Home Is Where The Chakra Is
by Arcross
Summary: A desperate eight-year old Uzumaki Naruto steals the Scroll of Seals in an attempt to pass his first graduation exam, dead-set on accepting a life-changing proposal from two years back. Beauty is only skin-deep; it's the inside that counts. Good Orochimaru; Naruto/Karin.
1. The Archives

**Home Is Where The Chakra Is**

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**Attention New Readers**: You know the drill - skip this chapter to begin reading!

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**The Archives**

_The Archive serves as a replacement for author notes and responses to reviews, in hopes that your reading experience is crisp and clean. Here, you will find notes of importance at any given time; whether it is a temporary hiatus or a documented list of changes to previous chapters, it will all be noted here. Entrée lengths may vary._

_Arcross' first fanfiction story._

_Disclaiming Naruto. Cover art belongs to sheiku42 of deviantArt._

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**July 10, 2013**

My dear readers and followers, you have every right to be disappointed and angry with me. Whether it's because I had disappeared for four months without warning, or because a number of plot elements in the story were poorly thought out, I understand. I take full blame for everything. The reason for not updating in such a long time was because of my poor mental health in Spring. My mind is still not in top condition, but it's much better than how it used to be. Fortunately, I can at least tap into my creativity and be inspired. Be warned_—_updates will not be as frequent as they used to be when I first started this.

Anyway, why is the slate clean? It's simple, really. After I decided to re-educate myself a little on the series, I changed several elements in the story since the last chapter's release. You do not need to re-read the previous chapters, however, if you don't wish to. Here are some major changes worth mentioning:

- **Chapters 1-5 have been slightly re-written.** If you enjoy my current writing style, then you _may_ find that these new drafts are more appealing compared to their originals. This change has also cut down or removed a few details that I no longer intend to delve into at this point in time, such as the revelation of Naruto's heritage.

- **Naruto's childhood is more detailed and less depressing.** I had a few readers that were concerned about Naruto's time as a five-year old while a few others disliked his attitude. These scenes in particular have undergone through the most change during the rewriting. I somehow gave Sasuke a bigger spotlight in these. If you intend to re-read, then I recommend the flashback scenes over anything.

- **Hiruzen is no longer a powerless figurehead.** As Hokage, he has the final say in all decisions concerning Konoha, which is what it should've been from the get-go. This also means that his perspective on Naruto's absence has changed. By the way...

- **The Konoha Council no longer exists.** It is a fandom creation that, for the longest time, convinced me it was canon. No worries, it's gone and I'm absolutely relieved that I no longer need to give it any more attention whatsoever.

- **Significantly reduced the usage of Japanese phrases.** This change does not extend to honorifics or Japanese culinary dishes, however. Udon and miso, for example, are still called udon and miso in English and Korean.

- **Translations for techniques making their debut are listed at the end of a chapter.** I suppose that some my readers may not know what each technique is, so hopefully that helps out.

Aside from these changes, I am very well aware that the slow-paced writing is very frustrating for my readers. You have not been ignored or forgotten. As a matter of fact, as soon as Chapter 10 is released_—_which should be very soon_—_a time-skip will follow it. However, I must ask for you all to be patient with me, as I will need time to prepare it.


	2. Kusagakure I: Looking Forward

**Chapter 1: Looking Forward**

_They say wherever someone is still thinking of you, that place is your home._** -Jiraiya**

* * *

_"Just where do you think you're going?"_

_That voice belonged to one of the several nondescript, local Academy students recently-turned Genin. To Naruto, it belonged to just another bully wanting to exact some sort of invisible retribution, sate some personal, sadistic desires, or a combination of both upon his being. The lines were quite blurred in that sense; there really wasn't much of a difference to begin with. He however never gave it too much input—they all led to the same thing one way or another._

_His plight started the year before when he had recently turned five, for reasons unexplained. It was as if all of the sudden, the children caught wind of some rumor pertaining to the bright toddler and afterwards made no attempt to converse with him. Some would be hesitant to approach, but peer pressure seized a dark victory in the end. Whatever entailed it forced Naruto to lead a socially-ostracized life, progressively worsening as days ticked down to weeks._

_It was about five months afterwards that his lonely situation had escalated to harassment, primarily verbal rather than physical. Each encounter was a different bully, so he never knew their names. Regardless, he would recognize their intended course of action very quickly. Some however, remained a constant to toss up the mix—these were the ones with personal grudges or some sick ideology of superiority. A few times he was told of the reasons, but they would never add up in his mind; each had a story to their own._

_Instead, Naruto did all he could to escape the wild flames of torment. He would not loiter in the village for too long; he would walk quickly or run back home; he would stay indoors, preferably in his apartment, for most of the day. In short, Naruto never really left the space of his small abode outside the purpose of necessity. Mornings were much safer without the tigers prowling the fields, but he wouldn't take his chances—a holiday break a few months back, coupled with a few students with too much free time on their hands, capitalized on a great deal of his sense of security._

_But today he had failed to escape his demons, ultimately concluding his running nineteen-day safe streak—his longest to date. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time._

_"Leave me alone," Naruto murmured as he pressed forward. He tried veering to the left, the right, then the left once more. Each attempt however, failed as the Genin barred him from passing by moving in accordance. "You're in the way..."_

_"What about it? It's not like you live around here anyway," he sneered as he made a taunting jab at younger child's sternum. Naruto stumbled backwards upon impact before leveling a aquamarine gaze to his antagonist's own._

_"But I do, so move!"_

_The larger boy made no move to step aside. "You know, I haven't seen your face for about two... three weeks, maybe? Did you really think you could run forever?"_

_"Once I become a shinobi, I won't have to run anymore."_

_"A beast like _you_ wants to be a shinobi? You'd be the first ever in village history if that were even possible." The older boy snickered to himself at his own dark humor._

_"I'm _not_ a beast, and I _can_ be a shinobi! I'll prove it!"_

_A brief scoff left the Genin's mouth at the challenging declaration. "Some big words coming from a little shit like you. But that's right, you're all bark and no bite. You're really just a coward to the core!"_

_"Shut up!"_

_Egged on by the taunts, Naruto hurled a rage-induced right hook in the older boy's direction, only for it to be intercepted by a reactive left-hand palm in defense. Fingers quickly and securely locked down upon his balled fist, maintaining a vice-grip nearly strong enough to crush an apple. The intense pressure forced out several pained yelps from Naruto as his very fingernails dug into the palm of his clasped hand; his only free hand fruitlessly tried to pry the other from the agonizing lockdown._

_"You can't even throw a punch, and you're telling me you can become a shinobi? You're pathetic."_

_Almost immediately, his opponent drove him through with a powerful uppercut to the diaphragm. Oxygen violently expelled itself from the confines of his lungs, leaving a breathless Naruto desperately heaving for air. It could have been worse; at least lunch didn't spill out._

_However, he was given no time to recover from the fierce blow. Following the uppercut, the Genin released his hold over Naruto's fist to spin towards the left, allowing him to transition into a punishing back side-kick. Naruto took the full brunt of the blow at the ribs and tumbled back towards a wall. The moment he collided against its solid surface, a sharp kunai lodged itself into his right shoulder, but he could not properly respond to the pain that followed; his lungs still harbored no air._

_"Looks like I missed, but I've had my fun today. Maybe next time will be a bull's eye."_

_The larger boy made no attempt to retrieve his metallic projectile and proceeded to walk away. However, he stopped for a moment. It was a bit of an afterthought, but he stopped nonetheless; perhaps he needed to shoot off another reminder._

_"By the way, you _don't_ belong here."_

_It was left at that, with Naruto in agonizing pain and his tormentor fading away from the scene unscathed. The child finally managed to inhale a deep breath of life, initiating an unwanted resurgence of affliction all around his chest. Naruto invested a few breaths whimpering as he became aware of the heaps of pain plaguing his entire right side. Struggling to move the almost crushed fingers of his right hand, he eyed the foreign shrapnel embedded in his shoulder—his first serious injury._

_It was deep; had the kunai buried itself another two inches deeper, it's edge probably would've been protruding from the other side. It cut quite a bit of the muscle underneath the skin and probably sliced bone as it dug; there was no way Naruto could move his right arm without a large bout of pain following it. He allowed it to go limp as his other hand made to dislodge the blade. All five fingers grasped the handle unprofessionally—big mistake—only to recoil at the flare of agony localized at his shoulder. He stifled his whining as best he could, breathing raggedly as a small amount of perspiration coalesced over his forehead._

_But Naruto couldn't just leave it in there like that, it had to come out one way or another. He took a moment to reaffirm himself, to steel his nerves as he made another go to unhinge the weapon from biting into his flesh. He hissed loudly once more as he gripped its handle and ignored the instinct to leave it inside, instead forcing his hand to pull back, kunai along with it. Another yelp escaped his lips as he shut his eyes tightly, teeth grit like a crocodile's inescapable maw._

_The audible clattering signaled the fruit of his success, offering a split second of relief before reminding him of the searing sensations that initiated the necessary removal in the first place. The lids of his watery eyes slowly rose, greeted sickly by the sight of sanguine red darkening the only white shirt Naruto owned. His wound was now an open exhibit to the passerby elements, bleeding profusely with the sudden absence of the kunai that formerly stopped it to an extent. Warm blood trickled down his collar underneath the single-pieced clothing as he righted himself up slowly, the wall to his back as a means of supporting his debilitated frame. He still hurt all over._

_The toddler forced himself off the wall as soon as he gained proper footing, placing one foot ahead of the other as his left arm ringed over the injured shoulder in a protective manner. Naruto made sure not to disturb or touch the open wound directly, lest he be invited whole-heartedly into another session of unnecessary pain. His mind lingered to his shoulder—how to stop the pain, heal it, make it all better again. Naruto's answer came from behind._

_"The hospital is the other way."_

* * *

A flash of not-so-bright orange dashed through the outskirts of the village and into the surrounding forests, shrouding the figure in a cast of their shadows as it went. A young, dark night with a full moon as its visitor graced the star-lit sky, its moonlight rays glistening and dancing peacefully over the cerulean eyes of a golden child. A light breeze licked a pair of warm cheeks belonging to a seemingly innocent face, evolving into harsh wind in midst of the rush.

Uzumaki Naruto was tired, his legs giving out under the painful stress as he contemplated on stopping for a breather. Most of the initial adrenaline, courtesy to the thrill of the hunt, slowly began to relieve itself from his system as his being inched further away from the village walls. He jumped branch to branch with a goal in mind; his destination point: a small warehouse only a kilometer away from Konoha's Southern Gate.

It came into view beyond the mess of trees ahead of him, renewing his depleting vigor with newfound determination. Naruto ignored the fatigue plaguing his aching muscles along with the desire to stop; it wasn't worth it when the finish line lay just before his very eyes. Additionally, he couldn't hold back the exhilarating excitement coursing through his body as a grin made its way on his face.

_Two years, and it's finally going to pay off! I can hardly wait!_ His cheerful thoughts threw him into a fit of laughter as he made way to victory. After all, nothing could taste as sweet as the delightful fruits of your diligent efforts.

Naruto barely hopped over the tall, thick shrubbery barring him from his goal, nearly tripping him over face-first in the process. The broken branches and raised roots gave him several nicks and cuts as he made his clumsy landing, all of which could have been avoided had he chose to wear his long green pants. Instead, he had chose to wear a pair of shorts this night, orange shorts for that matter, simply because he wanted to. And, he just simply didn't care. After all, how would a few cuts and bruises hold him back anyway?

Following his arrival, he had made to unstrap the troublesome burden occupying his back. The relief on his face was quite evident when the large scroll thumped soundly upon the forest floor. With his task mostly done, Naruto slumped against the cold wooden walls of the shack, his heavy breathing being the only sign of life other than the primal callings of fauna nearby. His heart thumped rapidly as his eyes tiredly clamped down to relax, allowing the sweat to roll down his face and plummet to the lush grass he sat upon.

Naruto remained motionless for what seemed to be an eternity before he opened his eyes once more, quickly taking in his surroundings as his breathing stabilized to a more comfortable rate.

He was on the spotlight: his audience the countless blades of grass lightly dancing, swaying to the wind in response to his vigilant gaze; his orchestra the scattered band of crickets and owls producing delicate music to his ears, a peaceful rhythm of reverberations that clashed with no one.

Naruto was at peace for the moment, and nobody else would enjoy his attunement to nature, except him. It was absolutely beautiful.

Unfortunately, relishing in the beauty of nature was something for another time. The task at hand involved the heavy object resting directly adjacent from his position; to learn at least one technique, any technique of his choosing, from the Scroll of Seals, a prerequisite to pass the graduation exam. He wasn't told what kind of techniques were inscribed into its contents, but seeing as how difficult it was to slip by what looked like a dozen of ANBU—and the Hokage himself—just to get his dirty little fingers on it, he could only imagine what riddled its contents. Perhaps effort matched the reward? He sure hoped that rung true.

"Finally! I went through hell to get my hands on you, and I'm not going to waste all that effort and two years just to fail! I got a test to pass!" Naruto loudly exclaimed, his hands already making to relocate the scroll onto his lap in greed. Without a second thought, he charged his chakra into the paper seal, breaking it open as he prepared to unravel its hidden contents before him. He set the scroll down over the bed of grass and unrolled it to his right.

"So, the first one is... **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**..." He blinked once. Twice. Then, a sudden realization rushed into his mind as he read it over once more. Naruto let out a growl in irritation.

"Damn it! The bunshin is my weakest technique..." He couldn't believe it. The first technique he came across just had to be one based on the clone. Of all things, why did it have to be related to that? If he couldn't pull off a simple Bunshin no Jutsu, how the hell was he going to do this one? He decided to skip to the next technique on the list, and with some luck, it wouldn't be something he already sucked at doing.

"**Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**..." His eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! Another bunshin no jutsu? Kami, you've got to be kidding me..." Naruto growled once again as before reading over the next technique.

"**Bunshin Daibakuha**..." His teeth grit in anger as he came across the word _bunshin_ for the third time. If this kept up, he was going to fail for sure. What kind of game was Kami playing at? He did not find his current predicament funny at all.

"**Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**..." This time, Naruto slammed his fist on the wooden surface of the cottage. "And they call this the Scroll of_ Seals_?" He scoffed, down-trodden in bitter irritation. "Had me fooled, it's probably called the Scroll of _Bunshins_, because all there is are stupid bunshin techniques in here. If I come across another bunshin no jutsu of some sort, I swear..." He took a moment to calm himself down before continuing on.

"**Hachimon**..." he muttered. And finally, things started to look up after all.

"Oi! Finally something that isn't a bunshin no jutsu!" As quick as Naruto exclaimed those words, he unrolled the scroll further down to get a detailed overview on the non-clone technique. The formerly hidden internal contents revealed themselves, gracing his azure eyes with a detailed diagram of the human body's chakra system, with eight particular nodes with a mess of kanji in color coded boxes. Next to the diagram lay color coded information to correlate with the boxes, which Naruto figured revealed how to utilize the technique. Or something like that.

He began to read aloud to himself, not that anyone was around to hear.

"_Kaimon_, the first gate. In the human body, a mechanic within the brain is used to prevent clusters of muscles from exhausting quickly when used, restraining them to work at only at an efficiency rate of an estimated 20% for endurance-based purposes. By localizing chakra in the left hemisphere of the brain, a neural signal, with the aid of chakra, travels throughout the muscular system, lifting the innate threshold so that muscles can work at maximum power. Soreness and aching are common after-effects..."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the information he digested, taking careful note at the precautions of using the technique even if he didn't completely understand everything it mentioned. He quickly skimmed over the other remaining seven sections, slowly discovering that each successive step continued to improve in power and likewise the drawbacks of the after-effects. Naruto also made a mental note to do some more reading to improve his vocabulary, seeing as how he encountered several words which made zero sense to him.

"Well, let's try it out and see if it works." He rolled up the scroll as it originally used to be, or tried to, and stood up, facing the wall of the wooden shack. "So, gather chakra to the... left? Yeah, left side of the brain and... Kai!"

With that, Naruto slowly drew his fist back, then proceeded to slug it directly at the wall's surface with a decent amount of effort. What happened next was something clearly unexpected of him.

As soon as his fist made direct contact with the wood, its planks snapped violently as his knuckles burrowed through the wall, leaving behind an impressively large hole big enough for his head to fit through comfortably. Even with the massive amount of force behind the punch, Naruto didn't feel any pain on his knuckles. His face was at first riddled with shock, then amazement and finally with joy. He really hoped the shack didn't belong to anyone in particular.

"Alright! That means I've definitely passed and I'll officially become a Genin tonight!" Naruto cheered as he laughed out loud at his accomplishment. A wave of relief washed over him as he smiled.

At that moment, a figure burst through the clearing a few yards from Naruto, who had simply looked over to the disturbance.

"Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, confusion obvious on his face. The man revealed as Mizuki had both hands on his knees, panting for breath. His long, silver hair fell over his eyes as he attempted to get his breathing under control, obscuring his view of the fazed student.

"I could ask you the very same question Naruto," the man had gasped out, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. "Do you realize what you've done, how much trouble you're in?" Worry was etched all over his face as he peered into Naruto's eyes; the instructor begun to wonder just how the boy got himself into such a mess.

"Trouble? What do you mean?"

Mizuki shook his head in an unconvinced manner before pointing at the scroll. "You just_ stole_ the Scroll of Seals, an ancient scroll with a number of powerful and forbidden techniques belonging _strictly_ to Konohagakure within it! What were you thinking doing something like that?"

"Well, isn't it for the alternative graduation exam? You know, learn one jutsu from the Scroll and pass if you didn't the first time?"

Mizuki's face stiffened at the information. "Naruto, there is no alternative graduation exam. In order to become a Genin, you must pass the exam just like the rest of your peers... who told you that there was one?"

"...what? But I don't understand... Ebisu-sensei said so. We were supposed to meet up here and—"

"Great, we need to get out of here, _now_!" Mizuki sharply interjected, rushing over to Naruto and securing the Scroll of Seals on his back. "You're in deep, _deep_ trouble, and Ebisu-teme is bad news!"

Confused, Naruto probed the instructor for clarification. "Now wait a minute, what's the big hurry for? And what's the deal with Ebisu-sensei?"

Once again, Mizuki shook his head. "Please Naruto, I promise to explain everything later." The boy merely shot him a disbelieving look.

"Naruto, we're running out of time, and I'm serious about you being in huge trouble! Knowing the Hokage, a search party is already being dispatched to get you and it's not going to look pretty when they do get their hands on you!"

Naruto quickly contemplated on his situation before nodding hesitantly at his instructor; his safety was now in Mizuki's hands, for better or worse.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Immediately, three identical copies of his sensei warped into existence, side to side at the ready. "Take off your shirt."

Naruto's eyes widened, his face etched in shock. "W-what?! What's that supposed to me—_gah_! Ouch!" He held his head down, both hands massaging where Mizuki had hit him.

"Idiot! That's far from the point!" he growled. "Kage Bunshins have the same scent as the user, so I'm going to create multiple trails to distract them. But to do that, I need a few things that have your scent on them, too!"

Realization finally hit Naruto's head and he quickly took off both his shirt before handing it to Mizuki. Said man took the shirt and ripped it into four strips, though they were not too far from being shreds either. It looked nothing more than mere tatters.

Naruto visibly winced at the sight of his torn black shirt. Even the Uzushio symbol wasn't at the mercy of his sensei._ There goes my favorite shirt..._

As if reading his thoughts, Mizuki muttered a reply. "Don't worry about it, I'll get you a new one later. The most important thing right now is to not get caught." He distributed the tatters among the clones, each of them taking a piece before dashing off in a random direction.

Before Naruto could say anything, he was swept off his feet and landed in the arms of Mizuki, heading West from the cottage.

* * *

A lingering silence fell over the two runaways as they dashed from tree to tree. One was focused on reaching a certain destination and the other was wondering just what exactly was happening. The lack of noise was unnerving for Naruto who decided to break the thick silence between them with a question that lingered in his mind for a while.

"Mizuki-sensei, where are we going?" Mizuki looked down at Naruto for a brief moment before averting his gaze back to the trees ahead.

"We were heading in the direction of Amegakure and Tanzaku..." The man stopped momentarily, setting the boy down before creating another Kage Bunshin. Mizuki took the fourth and last strip of cloth from his pocket and handed it to the copy, which continued to run in the direction they were formerly going.

"...but only to divert the trackers from our true destination." He smirked, albeit tiredly. "We're actually going to the Tenchi Bridge that joins Hi no Kuni and Kusagakure, part of Na no Kuni. _That_... is our rendezvous point."

Naruto gave his sensei a quizzical look. "Ren-de-_what_?"

The man let out a sigh. "It's basically a meeting point, Naruto... It looks like you still have a lot of studying to do." Mizuki laughed lightly as Naruto pouted.

"Whatever... So, who're we meeting up with? I was supposed to meet someone soon back in Konoha, you know? Right after graduation and all..." The boy's gaze lowered a bit, seemingly disappointed at his situation.

A smile formed on Mizuki's lips. "You'll see soon enough, and don't worry about it."

Naruto's azure eyes bored into Mizuki's own in disbelief. "What do you mean,_ don't worry about it_? I'm not sure if you understand how important it is for me to meet this person."

Mizuki shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I might not understand that, but I'd really like you to trust me on this one. We'll even ramen once we get to Kusa—sensei's treat—so how about it?"

The boy had settled with a very pensive expression for a long while, trying to figure out if his sensei had any ulterior motives. Unfortunately, he couldn't fish up anything probable that would benefit Mizuki in the process. Without anything in mind, Naruto decided that he'd put some faith in his sensei after all, now that they were quite a distance away from the village as well.

He mumbled something incoherently, catching the attention of Mizuki.

"What was that, Naruto? I can't hear you if you're mumbling, you know?"

"...fine," Naruto muttered.

"Hm? I still can't hear you, you'll need to speak up!" Mizuki's face broke into a grin from his teasing. He had obviously heard it, but it too much fun to pass up. It wasn't every day that Naruto had to swallow his pride.

He grumbled in annoyance, knowing that Mizuki was playing with him. "I said fine... I'll trust you." His voice strained through grit teeth as he finalized his defeat, though he paused for a moment before quickly adding, "but you owe me that ramen deal—I'm holding you to your word!"

Mizuki chuckled at the remark. "I'll live up to it, so don't you worry one bit." He gave the boy a reassuring smile before stopping abruptly and settling Naruto against a tree. "We should've got an entire day's worth of distance from the tracker team from the information my copies received, so we'll stop and rest here. Tenchi Bridge is nearly half a day away from our location, so we'll need the energy if we want to make it in a timely manner."

Naruto merely nodded, noticing that he was indeed tired and sleep sounded like a good idea. Sure, he had more questions, but he'd get them answered later. What was Na no Kuni? Where was Kusa? What was Kusa like? Was it big like Konoha? How was he going to be a Genin if he was going to Kusa? Maybe he should have paid more attention in the Academy, another mental note to pair up with improving his vocabulary. Never again would he be caught in another wreck over some big words.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I need to mention something important before you get to sleep Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Mizuki who was staring back in the direction of Konoha, now blocked by several kilometers' worth of trees. "Hm, what is it Mizuki-sensei?" Now what could be so much more important than sleep?

Mizuki's face stiffened slightly as he prepared to deliver the information. Reaching into his vest, he pulled out a single, lone metallic object before revealing it to Naruto. Before his eyes was the Konoha hitae-ate, but there was one distinct feature that it had that made it... _different_: a diagonal slash was etched across plate.

"Starting from today... Konoha is not our home."

* * *

**Kage Bunshin**: _Shadow Clone_

**Taju Kage Bunshin**: _Multi-Shadow Clone_

**Bunshin Daibakuha**: _Great Clone Explosion_

**Hachimon**: _Eight Gates_

**Shuriken Kage Bunshin**: _Shadow Clone Shuriken_

Hi no Kuni:_ Land of Fire_

Na no Kuni:_ Land of Greens_


	3. Kusagakure II: Reaching Out

**Chapter 2: Reaching Out**

* * *

_"The hospital is the other way."_

_Time froze for Naruto. The air stood still as silence drifted off in non-existent wind for many moments before he finally decided to slowly look over his shoulder in the direction of where the voice came from. A pale-skinned man with long, flowing black hair wearing the standard Konoha uniform stood only a few yards behind him. His eyes were obscured by the straight locks of hair draped over his face, but Naruto could tell that his lips were curled in a small smile._

_A soft breeze lifted the unknown man's bangs, dissolving his mysterious visage. Beyond the black veil revealed two golden orbs bearing thin onyx slits lined directly down the center—eyes of a snake, a _predator_. This person, whoever he was, was clearly on top of the food chain. Those eyes screamed danger all over and would be very capable of killing if looks alone could do so. The man's gaze was intense, petrifying even, but as far as Naruto could tell, they oddly bore no ill intent. No, they held anything but._

_Half his mind attending to the throbbing pain of his shoulder, Naruto summed up the courage to probe for answers. "...who are you, and what do you want?"_

_The response that came next was entirely unexpected—the man just laughed. What kind of answer was that? For Naruto, it didn't answer anything._

_"Wh... what's so funny?"_

_The serpentine shinobi had stopped his laughter, though his face sported a grin. "It's nothing really. But tell me... if the hospital is back _there_—," he gestured behind him with a thumb before continuing, "then why are you going _that_ way?"_

_Naruto peered at the ground in shame. "I... I didn't know where it was. I've never been to one before."_

_"I see... But since it's quite a distance away, how about if I take a look at that injury of yours? I know a bit of the healing arts, so I might be able to help make it better."_

_The generous offer stood, and Naruto didn't really know how else he could stop the hurt he was feeling. So naturally, he decided to accept the stranger's act of charity. If anything, the man's uniform offered the credibility necessary._

_Naruto gave a tentative nod towards the man, who walked over to his side once he was given permission to. Kneeling down to the child's height, the serpentine stranger observed the wound with an analytic eye before raising his right hand slightly over it. Shortly after doing so, a humming jade aura engulfed the man's extremities, immediately capturing Naruto's attention and interest. As the green haze came into contact with his skin under the bloodied shirt, a warm sensation begun to replace the pain bit by bit._

_"Interesting..." the man had murmured to himself, though Naruto was too focused on the soft illumination to hear it._

_Fingers worked and moved as the glow washed over the injured site, steadily mending the severed flesh at the cellular level. After a mere minute of watching the aura with absolute interest, the mesmerizing glow dissipated, perhaps completing the healing process._

_It took a moment for Naruto to snap back to attention, and when he did, the first thing he noticed was that his shoulder was merely sore, a significant improvement than how it used to feel just a few minutes ago._

_"Hey... it doesn't hurt a lot anymore..." Immediately, he checked underneath from the collar of his shirt and was amazed that what used to be a gory puncture wound looked nothing more than a large, but bloody scab. "What was that?"_

_The kind and seemingly generous healer, who had stood up after he had finished his work, offered Naruto a small smile. "A simple medical technique I picked up on when I was not much older than yourself." He paused for a moment, as if remembering something from before. "If you must know, there is indeed something that I want from you... and I know there is something that you want from me."_

_Naruto's interest was definitely piqued as he pulled himself up from his awe-struck behavior, meeting the man's gaze with that of his own. "Something that I want? How do you know that you have something I want?"_

_"Ah, it's simple, really," he giggled, but his tone became serious. "You wear your heart on your sleeve, so it's not difficult for someone such as myself to figure that out; to figure that all you want is some acceptance in your life. Or maybe, just _maybe_... to figure out that you actually want a home. And not just any home, but somewhere that you feel safe, loved and cared for; that no matter how bad things get, it'll _always_ be there for you. Am I right?"_

_Naruto took in the explanation wide-eyed; he had been figured out so easily, by a complete stranger no less. Whoever this person was, was in no way an idiot. The boy's silence had apparently answered the older man's question._

_"I see," the man stated simply. He turned around as if concluding the conversation, but was stopped by a small, but sudden tug on his attire from behind._

_"Wait!" Naruto's face, now no longer bound by the clutches of his own utter shock, was riddled in desperation. Whoever this person was, knew a solution to his problem. "You... you said you wanted something from me, right? What is it?"_

_If he had to be honest with himself, Naruto had no idea whatsoever as to what this person would want from him. As a child with few possessions, none of his personal belongings held any sort of grand value nor were they desirable, at least in his opinion. There was nothing much to lose, now that he had given it some thought._

_"Ah, so I was right after all. Very well then." He turned around, slit eyes peering down at the youngster of waist-length. "I will tell you what I want, but by doing so, I place my trust in you not to tell others of it."_

_Naruto nodded his head hastily. "Promise!"_

_A smile graced the stranger's face. "Good. All I want from you is to enroll in the village's academy—become a _shinobi_. I don't care as to how you do it, only that you become one in the end. That, is what I want from you."_

_Well, that was a request Naruto did not expect of him. All he had to do was to become a registered shinobi of Konoha, and he'd get what he wanted? It seemed almost too easy, too little for something that big of an offer. He couldn't guess why this person wanted him to become a shinobi, but regardless—_

_"However, you must be willing to give up a few... _things_ in exchange by accepting my proposal."_

_Ah, there's the catch in midst of the delight. It was too good to be true._

_"What do I have to give up?"_

_As if offhandedly, the stranger let out a thoughtful hum before giving his answer. "Your ideal home will not be found here—not in this village, not in this land—but elsewhere. Because of that, you must be ready and willing to give up your life here in Konoha. I hope you don't have too many ties here... it'd be a pity to sever those close bonds so suddenly."_

_The blonde-haired boy thought long and hard over those words. With much difficulty, he did what he could to weigh the pros and cons with his five-year old mind. A brief moment of silence set upon the two, the stranger patiently awaiting an answer. When the boy didn't speak, the serpentine man had nodded in understanding._

_"I understand if you can't decide at this time; it's not an easy question to answer, after all. If you'd like, I can give you a few days'—maybe weeks'—worth of time so that you can think things over of what you really want."_

_At this, Naruto snapped back from the crevices of his mind. No, he was set on making his decision clear today._

_"I'll take your offer," Naruto stated._

_"Are you sure you don't need extra time to think about it?"_

_"Yeah, I _really_ want this. And from today, I won't go back on my word!" he declared with as much confidence he could muster in his five-year old self. If it were possible, fire could've danced in his eyes from the emotion he had injected into the statement._

_The man had chuckled, amused by the child's glowing determination before him. "Excellent. In two years' time, I will see you again, soon after graduation. By then, you must be ready to leave all of this behind you. Farewell, Uzumaki, you are indeed an_ interesting_ one..."_

_With that, the man had faded from Naruto's sight. Unfortunately however, the poor boy had just remembered that he never got the man's name, though oddly he seemed to know Naruto's own._

_"Ah! You didn't tell me your name!" he called out, knowing that the man was gone and likely couldn't hear him. Still, it was worth a shot even if he didn't expect an answer. Although, the sweeping wind had seemingly responded to his unheard question as if for his ears only._

_"Orochimaru. Remember it well, child."_

* * *

The early morning breeze tickled the bare arms of Naruto. Small warm rays of light belonging to the breaking dawn danced gracefully along his face, prompting his eyes to flutter open to the delightful sight of, well, trees. That's all there was around him, just grass and an overabundance of trees. Then there was just him and his sensei, side to side, backs along the same trunk. He treated himself to a very lazy and audible yawn, both of his small arms outstretched that nearly brushed the cheek belonging to a slumbering Mizuki in the process.

Sleeping in such a position was rather difficult and uncomfortable for Naruto. It probably would've been better if he had sprawled out on the grass instead, but that idea hadn't come to mind. Now he had to deal with a slightly sore neck and rear, though they were of minor annoyances compared to what could've been.

It was cold that night, so Naruto had asked if he could borrow Mizuki's green Chūnin flak jacket for the benefit of warmth who gladly obliged. When he put it on, there was one thing he was absolutely sure of: it was amazingly comfortable, even if it didn't exactly fit. Who knew that the seemingly cheap and run of the mill vests were made of out a durable yet very smooth fabric? He couldn't wait to get his hands on one in the future. They served well in heat preservation and could take a good beating while still looking good as new. Not to mention, the many pockets made it clearly optimal and convenient for survival and combat. Oh yes, he definitely wanted one now.

But alas, the flak jacket he was wearing didn't belong to him as he was just borrowing it for the time being. Although, it didn't mean he couldn't persuade his sensei to let him keep it on until he got a new shirt. Ah, if only it came in smaller sizes, since it literally reached down to his knees almost. He'd need to grow several more inches if he didn't want to look like he wore it as a skirt.

Naruto stretched out his arms and legs from his seated position, sighing in relief to the pleasant sensations of usage. His two legs brushed noisily over the grass, waking Mizuki up from his sleep. The instructor rubbed his eyes tiredly as the sunlight rested uner his brows.

"Morning, Mizuki-sensei."

"Mm. Morning, Naruto. Sleep well?" Mizuki let out a yawn of his own.

Naruto shrugged in response. "Guess so, just a bit sore. I'm also a little hungry..."

"Check the first pocket on the left-hand side of the vest. There should be a few rations in there that'll keep you from thinking about food for a few hours," Mizuki replied before slowly standing up from his spot.

Naruto fumbled around the pockets of his sensei's vest and took out what looked like to be a package of dried fruit. It didn't look appetizing, but if his sensei said it would do for now, then he'd take it. Naruto had no real survival skills since the academy didn't exactly teach them, so all he had was Mizuki to rely on for now. He opened up the package and tossed a few of the pieces in his mouth.

"Oh yeah, how far away are we from the nearest village?"

Mizuki pondered a bit in thought. "I'd say... around two hours, give or take, if we were to walk. Also, would you mind passing the rations over here? I don't have as much energy as I'd like to have at the moment."

Naruto didn't hesitate on giving him the rest of what was left in the package. Mizuki muttered his thanks before shoving the rest of the remaining fruit in his mouth.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something before we head off."

The boy blinked at him in confusion; his sensei apparently made it a habit to forget to point things out. "What is it?"

"There's a place we need to stop by, and it's not at the nearest village you were wondering about." Naruto frowned at this as Mizuki continued. "Another person will be joining us so that we can all head off together to Kusa. We're only about an hour or so away, but I'd like to walk for this one if you don't mind."

The boy sighed at this. He had a lot of energy to burn, but it seemed that his sensei didn't. "Well, okay, I guess. Will I be able to get a shirt there while we're at it?"

He honestly could use one now. It would be weird to show up at a village with nothing but an over-sized flak jacket and a pair of orange shorts on. But still, it sucked that his sensei just had to rip up his favorite shirt, even if it was for the greater good.

Mizuki laughed a bit. "Of course Naruto, don't worry about it. I need to pick up a few things from there anyway and you'll get a shirt before we leave." He ruffled the boy's hair who only scowled in response.

* * *

"Enter."

A team of four individuals entered the Sarutobi Hiruzen's office, each hosting a scowl riddled in annoyance of their own to the failure of their assignment, all except one who boasted one nasty smirk on his face. The Inuzuka woman had the most irritated expression of the pack for obvious reasons.

"Report!" barked the old man.

The Inuzuka spoke up through gritted teeth. "Hokage-sama, the target... escaped."

Hiruzen frowned at the given answer. "Oh? And might I ask how that happened, exactly?"

She sent a piercing glare at the Hokage. "The jinchūriki received... _help_... from a second party source, which we discovered was Mizuki-san, one of the newer Chūnin instructors at the academy."

The only smirking man, Ebisu as he was called, continued the report. "Mizuki-san utilized Kage Bunshins and scraps of the beast's clothing to spread their scent, Hokage-sama. We only had one nose for the job."

Hiruzen ignored the derogatory term used in place of Naruto. "Do you at least have possible leads to their intended destination?"

"Yes, we have four possible locations. We caught up to the one heading towards Sunagakure, but it was merely a Kage Bunshin. So, we are left with Takigakure, Iwagakure, Amegakure, Kumogakure and every thing in between those villages from here."

The Hokage pondered for a moment, analyzing the collective data. "Drop Iwa from the list, no discussion. It appears that I have underestimated Mizuki-san's prowess and intellect."

Another group member with ants in their pants posed their own question. "So what is your plan of action, Hokage-sama?"

A moment of silence descended upon the room as Hiruzen thought of a way to circumvent the issue. It was clear that there'd be no point in sending another search party; by tomorrow, Naruto and Mizuki would be out of Hi no Kuni, and thus out of their jurisdiction. Jurisdictions, a huge cockblock that would limit the search to only occur in the middle of missions outside of Hi no Kuni, as otherwise would threaten the neighboring alliances. Not only that, but they couldn't exactly send a diplomatic envoy to their allies without a valid reason. Hiruzen could not think of anything for the moment; he needed more time to develop a safe solution. For now...

"Mission failed!"

"That's it? Hokage-sama, please forgive me, but why are we not going to do anything about this?"

Hiruzen leveled the speaker with a stern gaze. "I am under the impression that continuing the pursuit will only serve to be detrimental to the village's resources. We have already suffered a great loss; there's no need to sacrifice more effort for minimal gain at this point. We no longer hold the upper hand in this scenario: starting tomorrow, they will surely be out of Hi no Kuni and therefore out of bounds well before any of you get five kilometers away from the village. My current solution at the moment is to make the search an S-rank mission attached to all future missions not within Hi no Kuni. Remember, we don't bear free reign to tread territory that is not stated within the mission bounds. Or, have you all forgotten that we aren't the only Hidden Village in the world?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," they all responded simultaneously.

"Good. I will come up with a more plausible solution in time. If that is all, then you are all dismissed." At that moment, all four disappeared in a flicker, leaving the Hokage alone in the office as well as his thoughts. He let out an exasperated sigh as his mind worked dutifully for a quick fix for everything.

"We'll find you Naruto... please be all right, We're doing everything we can to bring you back home safely," the old man murmured to himself as he pulled out the first two papers on top of the stack of papers and finalized the drafts, placing a Bingo Book on top to await an update in its contents. The papers read the following:

* * *

**Uzumaki Naruto**  
_S-rank Konohagakure Jinchūriki_  
**Current Affiliation:** Unknown  
**Ninja Rank:** Genin  
**Bingo ID:** 923764-S  
**Status:** Alive  
**Konoha Bounty:** (A) 7,500,000 Ryō

_Wanted strictly alive for stealing the Scroll of Seals and current jinchuriki status. May possibly know kinjutsu through the Scroll of Seals. Capture on sight, but do not resort to physical force. Handle with care. Last seen with Mizuki, heading towards Kiri, Iwa, Taki or Ame._

**Techniques:** Kawarimi; Bunshin; Henge  
**Elemental Releases:** Unknown  
**Kekkei Genkai:** Unknown  
**Collective Bounties:** None

* * *

**Mizuki**  
_B-rank Konohagakure Nukenin_  
**Current Affiliation:** Unknown  
**Ninja Rank:** Chūnin  
**Bingo ID:** 345821-A  
**Status:** Alive  
**Konoha Bounty:** (A) 750,000 Ryō / (D) 350,000 Ryō

_Wanted dead or alive as an accomplice for stealing the Scroll of Seals. May possibly know kinjutsu through the Scroll of Seals. Potentially dangerous. Capture on sight. Last seen with Uzumaki Naruto heading towards Kiri, Iwa, Taki or Ame._

**Techniques:** Kawarimi; Bunshin; Henge; Kage Bunshin  
**Elemental Releases:** Unknown  
**Kekkei Genkai:** Unknown  
**Collective Bounties:** None

* * *

Naruto and Mizuki came across the first road they've seen since leaving Konoha. For the boy, it was a positive thing. Roads led to people, places, _civilization_. In general though, it was much appreciated; just anything other than a mass of trees ahead was a sight for sore eyes.

A small, lone house came into view in the far distance along the base of a mountain, which must have been the place his sensei talked about a few hours ago. While Naruto couldn't wait to get something to eat, he was not in a rush to return the flak jacket back to its rightful owner. Speaking of which, it reminded him to ask his sensei something.

"Oi, Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto piped up, slightly startling Mizuki as they walked along the road at a brisk pace.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"Can I get a vest, just like this one here?" Naruto asked as he pointed at the over-sized flak jacket he had on.

Mizuki held a thoughtful pose before gracing Naruto with an answer. "Well, yes you can have a vest of your own..." Naruto went starry-eyed in excitement, "...when you become a Chūnin!" And just immediately, a frown etched itself on his face in disappointment.

"But sensei! That's not fair!"

"Sorry, life isn't always fair. You'll get yours in a few years," Mizuki chuckled.

"A few years? _Years_?! You've got to be kidding me!" he yelled in disbelief as the color of his face went down a notch.

Mizuki shook his head. "As much as I want to say that I am, I'm not. That's the real deal for you. Besides, you're not even ready to take the Chūnin exams just yet. After all, you still aren't a Genin at the very least."

"...don't remind me," Naruto grumbled.

"Oh come on, cheer up will you? I'm confident that you'll be one in no time. We're here now, anyway."

Just then, Naruto finally became aware of where they were. They weren't on the road anymore and the house was no longer so far away. Rather, they were at the very doorstep. Time sure flew by quickly.

Mizuki rapped on the door before calling out, "Tsubaki-chan, are you there? It's me, Mizuki!"

The scuffling of feet could be heard from the doorstep along with a distant "just a second!" before the locks on the door turned. As the door opened from the inside, a woman with long black hair wearing a similar uniform to Mizuki appeared. The Uzushio swirls were absent on the shoulders and back while the vest took a more vibrant green tone compared to the one Naruto currently had on, which was of a more darker complex. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect that caught his eye was her hitae-ate in which three blades of grass were branded. He had never seen that symbol before in his life, always seeing the deformed swirl that all of the Konoha shinobi had.

"Oh, Mizuki-kun!" The woman who Mizuki called 'Tsubaki' brought his sensei in a hug who returned the gesture whilst pecking her on the cheek. Naruto simply averted his gaze and took a careful step back, not wanting to become a part of his sensei's make-out process. It didn't go unnoticed as Tsubaki looked over Mizuki's shoulder, catching the golden boy red-handed. In a flash, Naruto found his both of his cheeks being pinched lightly by said woman who appeared right in his face. How that happened, he didn't know.

"Aww, you look so adorable! Mizuki-kun, is he one of your students?" she cooed, gently rubbing the permanent birthmarks on his cheeks. Naruto's face flushed red from the embarrassing comments, welcomed praise, pinching and rubbing of his cheeks.

Mizuki simply laughed at the exchange of expressions. "Yes Tsubaki-chan, he's one of my students from the academy." He turned his gaze to the mentioned child. "Naruto, this is Tsubaki, the love of my life." Then to his wife. "And Tsubaki-chan, this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Oh my, you have a cute name too?"

Naruto's blush darkened. "Oh, r-really? I uh... didn't know that. T-thanks?" _What the hell?!_

In response, Tsubaki enveloped him in a hug of her own. "Of course! I think your name really is cute! Do you mind if I call you Naru-chan?"

Another shade of red. "E-eh, n-no... not at all!" He honestly didn't know how else to respond to that. All the while, Mizuki, who couldn't restrain himself, broke into a wild fit of laughter.

Tsubaki then relinquished him from the hug, but placed both of her hands on his shoulders so that he wouldn't run off immediately. "Okay Naru-chan, let's head inside. I'm sure you're hungry and Mizuki-kun needs to get a few things before we go, alright?"

Naruto nodded furiously before responding, unsure if he was going to be the victim of another cuddle attack. "H-hai!"

Fortunately, Tsubaki didn't and instead offered him a smile as she let go of his shoulders. He was sure he was as red as a tomato.

* * *

**Kawarimi**: _Body Replacement_

**Henge**: _Transformation_


	4. Kusagakure III: Crossing Boundaries

**Chapter 3: Crossing Boundaries**

* * *

_A wave of students noisily filled the empty seats of the classroom, bringing along their gossip and chit-chat at full blast while a somewhat-nervous Mizuki stood by the wooden lectern near the front of the board. It would be his first year as a newly appointed Chūnin instructor at the academy, unlike his colleague, Umino Iruka, who was already serving his third year as Chūnin instructor._

_He wasn't exactly sure what to do at that moment. Was he supposed to be strict? Lenient? What would account as proper discipline for a class of five or six year old prospective shinobi and kunoichi? Were the students supposed to abide to the academy rules without question? He sincerely wished he was told beforehand, but no, he was told that he'd 'adapt to the situation'. So much for words of encouragement; he didn't even know how to start._

_Then, he remembered back from his younger years where he took his first steps into his career as a shinobi. _Roll call! Now where would that blasted clipboard—ah, here we go.

_He picked up the clipboard resting on the inside of the wooden lectern, taking an ink pen along with it. As Mizuki's eyes trailed across the students in the room and the students listed on the sheet, he begun to wonder how a small class could produce so much noise. He didn't count more than twenty, yet they were riling up a storm. Paper balls were travelling across the room as a majority of the girls in the class clustered up together around one particular table, all squealing something that sounded akin to 'Sasuke-kun' or whatnot. Whatever their jargon really was, it wasn't his concern._

_He coughed once to grab the attention of the class, but discovered that it was drowned out in midst of the chaos. Mizuki decided to speak this time; perhaps if they heard the voice of their instructor, they would listen like the eager and willing-to-learn students that they were._

_"Class, can I have your attention please?" He waited a moment before taking note that the noise level wasn't getting any lower. In fact, it was actually skyrocketing much to his dismay. Mizuki's patience was beginning to grow thin._

_"Can we all settle down? It's time to take attendance!" he called over the horde of students. Some turned around, although most chose to ignore him. The clusterfuck of girls were now sitting on the table rather than standing around it, still squealing the same thing over, and over and over. He could have sworn that the gathering of girls there got bigger than the last time he looked just moments ago. Mizuki really needed to think of a way to get everyones' attention without giving off the impression that he was some jerk of an instructor._

Okay, so how do you quickly get the attention of a swarm of unseated girls and half a classroom of noisy slackers?_ Nothing came to Mizuki's mind for a moment, so he decided to see what all of the fuss was about. The desk that stole the spotlight from him now had several girls sprawled out over its surface as if it were a placement mat, some even attempting to pile up over each other due to space issues._

_Mizuki approached the celebrity of a desk and found the cause of disorder. Among the mass of girls sat one adorable, black-haired child wearing a dark blue collared shirt. His face was small—baby fat still ever-present upon his six-year old facial features—somewhat framed by his longer bangs, and sported two onyx-tinted eyes. Another thing the instructor had noticed: his face was very,_ very_ red._

_The young boy, Uchiha Sasuke, was shaking in his boots. Never before had he ever garnered so much attention for himself all at once, from those of the opposite gender at that. His beady eyes nervously darted from girl to girl in total confusion, all which seemed to be drawing closer to him whenever he tried to press his back further into his seat until he couldn't anymore. Sasuke was beginning to get very uncomfortable with so many eyes upon his being, so he had drawn up both legs to his small chest for some sense of security and privacy. He hugged his shins, face halfway buried into his knees as he shut his eyes tight, though they'd open on occasion just in case his female peers did scurry off. _Please go away, I don't like this!

_Odd, how it had all begun when the first of the students started coming in. Because he was early to class, Sasuke had taken one of the front row seats, eager and ready to learn. A while after, just when several students arrived, a female classmate sat right next to him and got a good frontal profile of his face. Noticing this, he decided to be polite and introduce himself to get rid of the slight tinge of nervousness._

_"H-hi... my name is Uchiha Sasuke. What's yours?"_

_That was all it took and the next thing he knew, he couldn't even see the chalkboard that was supposed to be in front of him. Many of the girls begun to fight for the seats next to Sasuke while the rest of them started to lay on top of his section of the desk. They all tried talking to him or asking questions of some sort, but he didn't know what to say. His level of unease reached an all-time high, and as far as he was concerned, nobody was going to save him._

* * *

Compared to the dried rations from early in the morning, a few bowls of rice and a delightful share of sashimi with soy sauce on the side was a blessing. Naruto was never the one to turn down an offer when it involved food, especially when it came without its best friend_—_the price-tag. His appetite rivaled that of an Akimichi, yet no matter how much the child ate, he didn't seem to gain weight. Just where the hell did all of the food go? Anyone that wasn't Naruto could only assume that his stomach was a bottomless pit, paradoxical as it sounded, when his widened belly spoke otherwise.

His talk with Tsubaki was nothing more than general musings and small talk, simply getting to know one another; likes, hobbies, a bit of background information if any were among the topics. While Naruto primarily led the conversation, it gave him an opportunity to settle his stomach's contents while Mizuki set everything up in a series of sealing scrolls. The small cabin he was currently housed in seemed to get vacant by the minute; furniture for the most part remained, but everything else had to go. Not even the small table that the food was on was spared, but the two were too busy talking to notice that it disappeared. Fortunately, their meals by then were finished and not something of their concern for the moment. Meanwhile, Naruto decided it would be a good time to ask about the foreign symbol on Tsubaki's hitae-ate before they got ready to head off.

"Tsubaki-san, what village does that," he motioned to her hitae-ate, "represent anyway?" Naruto cast her a curious, tilted glance as she looked up and tapped the metal plate with her finger in response.

"Oh, this is the symbol of Kusagakure, Naru-chan. The landmass isn't as expansive like Hi no Kuni, and the village isn't huge like Konoha, but it's a nice, peaceful place, you know?" Tsubaki gave him a genuine smile. "I suppose you've never heard of it before?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I didn't even know such a place existed before Mizuki-sensei mentioned it the day we left," he muttered. "But anyway, how's it like? Over there and all..."

Tsubaki placed a finger on her chin in thought, trying to come up with a good summary of how Kusagakure was like based on memory. "Well Naru-chan, you know that Konoha is just a ton of forests, right?" He nodded. "Kusa is just a lot of plains instead, with very few trees. The grass that grows tends to get quite tall and there's many beautiful meadows filled with flowers and all."

Tsubaki closed her eyes, visibly relaxing as she mentally walked down memory lane. "The wind is really nice there... it never gets too windy at all, you know? Just gentle, soothing breezes. Everywhere you look is beautiful, especially during Spring and Summer where the grass glows brightly, even to moonlight. It doesn't matter if its dark out or not. Mizuki-kun likes it over there, too. He feels at peace; it clears his mind of things." And then, her eyes fluttered open.

Naruto's thoughts were flooded with calm scenes of green and yellow. Images of serene grace played through his mind as he tried to get an idea of how Kusagakure looked like. He figured it would be a nice, quiet place to settle down at for someone seeking a free-spirited life based on what Tsubaki told him from her perspective. He wasn't exactly too sure, but it was her experience versus his, which was zilch. He couldn't argue that Kusagakure didn't sound so bad.

"It sounds like a nice place to be in, at least from how you describe it."

Tsubaki smiled. "Trust me, you'd have to see it for yourself with your own two eyes. I can't even figure out the right words that could describe Kusa."

The child nodded as Mizuki entered the nearly-vacant room, now dressed in the same uniform as Tsubaki_—_the Kusa hitae-ate, vibrant green flak jacket and dark navy undergarments. And of course, the Scroll of Seals was securely strapped on his back. That puzzled Naruto for the most part_—_just where did he get all that stuff? Was Mizuki really a Konoha shinobi, or was he one of Kusa?

"Hey Naruto, catch!" Mizuki called out as a small bundle of black traveled across the room and into the golden boy's lap. "Eh, sorry Naruto, but you might want to give back that vest, can't have you sporting that around while we're in Kusa."

Naruto grumbled and frowned as he reluctantly unzipped the flak jacket before setting it off to the side of him. Unfurling the bundle turned out to be a shirt two sizes too big, but it would do just fine. If he had to be honest with himself, he couldn't expect a grown man like Mizuki to have clothes that would fit an eight-year old, so he didn't find any reason complain. He slipped into it as his instructor walked over to pick up the fallen vest before tossing it in one of the rooms. Naruto took notice of the exchange before narrowing his gaze at Mizuki.

"Oi! So that's just going to stay there while we leave?" He pointed an accusing finger at his sensei, obviously upset that such a nice article of clothing was going to be left behind.

Mizuki let out a sigh. "Yes, it's staying here. Like I said, you can't be wearing that in Kusa for conveniences' sake." He rubbed the back of his head. "Do you really like it that much?"

Naruto furiously nodded, prompting Mizuki to sigh again. "Well, tell 'ya what? I'll get one for you when you'll be able to fit the smallest size, got it?" Naruto's eyes gleamed with hope, which didn't go unnoticed by his sensei. "But you need to reach up to here or else it won't fit, alright?" he said as he pointed at the area between his shoulder and elbow, a good foot and a spare few inches higher than Naruto's height.

"What?! That's going to take_ forever _sensei!" Naruto cried as he went on his knees before him. "Come on sensei, you can't possibly expect me to grow that fast!"

Tsubaki gave in to his antics. "Aww, come on now Mizuki-kun, give Naru-chan a chance now will you?" she asked with pleading eyes. Naruto's eyes zipped to Tsubaki for a moment, then back to Mizuki, in acknowledgement. He had mentally praised her for taking his side on the matter.

Mizuki sighed for the third time before pointing to his elbow. "Fine, when you reach my elbow. But that's the absolute lowest, are we clear? You won't fit one otherwise, period."

The boy held his head dejectedly in defeat. "Hai, sensei." Well, it was at least something, right?

"Anyway, we should get going now. Tenchi Bridge isn't too far away from here so we'll get there within the hour. Remember, it's the rendezvous point, so be patient," Mizuki said as he made his way to the door, both Naruto and Tsubaki following closely behind.

* * *

Every month, Konoha's Bingo Book is updated with new entries of nukenin and high-priority targets, courtesy of the ANBU division working alongside the Hokage. Every documented entrée remains in the Hokage's edition of the same book, whereas every Konoha Jōnin and ANBU operative receives an edition with only currently active targets.

Under the insistence and order of the Hokage, a forcible and emergency update on the Bingo Book's contents was scheduled the following morning after the incident. As such, it had been made it necessary for every Jōnin and ANBU in active service to answer the Hokage's call. An update in the middle of the month, however mandatory it may be, was bound to bear questions.

A long, single-filed line of shinobi of respectable rank and positions waited patiently in front of Hiruzen's office. Many in the meantime were speculating on what the update called for—an important addition of a high-priority target; drastic changes on a number of profiles thanks to fresh, accurate intel; urgent removal or renewal of targets—but whatever the case, many looked forward to the prospect of new game. More often than not, the bounties of targets were usually raised or offered bonus rewards as a result of emergency changes. This often led to a temporary boom in mission assignments, with many seeking to hopefully cash in on the boosted bounties.

As the ANBU operative before the Hokage received his new entries and flickered away, another ANBU with a dog mask appeared next in line for the update.

"Your Bingo Book, Inu-san," Hiruzen demanded as he extended an open hand in the man's direction.

As the dog-masked man handed the respective item to him, his curiosity got the better of him. "If I may ask, Hokage-sama, why is the Bingo Book receiving its update now?"

The old man released an exasperated sigh as he prepared to seal the entries into Inu-san's book. This definitely was not the first time Hiruzen was asked the very same question by the others. Nonetheless, the Hokage decided to grace him with an answer anyway.

"This call is scheduled in direct accordance to last night's events; as you may or may not know, the retrieval mission was deemed a failure. The guilty parties are to be entered into the book so that an S-rank search can commence in a timely manner."

"Wait, you don't mean—"

"Yes, this catalog update enters two new high-priority targets for all Jōnin and ANBU in Konoha's active service. Targets Uzumaki Naruto and Mizuki are now aspects that should be given attention to should you be graced with a fateful encounter with them during future missions. Additionally, they are labeled as S-class and B-class targets respectively."

Inu-san's eyes widened in shock behind his mask as the Hokage finished the sealing process. "_S_-class? The boy isn't even a mere _Genin_, and he's already more of a potential threat compared to an ex-_Chūnin instructor_?" The ANBU's eyes narrowed. "What's the meaning of this, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen leveled a stern gaze as he delivered the book back to its owner. "Are you questioning my reasoning for this judgment? If that is so, then you are welcome to suggest a more logical approach to circumvent this delicate issue. That is, if you can think of any better method that doesn't jeopardize the village as a result of its actions." The elderly man's eyes hardened at the thought of his village, his _family_, suffering over poor, brash decision-making in the long run.

"So, what say you, _Hatake_?"

The man behind the mask immediately relieved himself from the tension, not expecting such a challenging tone and having nothing to say to those words. They bit back harshly, like teeth riddled with hooked grooves.

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama… I'll take my leave then," he murmured as he took the item from the hands of the Hokage, not sparing a second before flickering out of the office in a puddle of shame.

* * *

Naruto's clear cerulean eyes looked on ahead as the newly-formed trio travelled branch to branch. He still could not believe what he was seeing. Trees, everywhere, from just about every angle imaginable, and no clear sign of it getting any less dense. Just how much forestry was there in Hi no Kuni? And, they were supposedly not even in Hi no Kuni anymore, but in Na no Kuni, which in other words, should mean less trees in the way.

That assumption was automatically debunked. It didn't matter if you were on the outskirts of the damn landmass or not, there still was a huge mass of trees that riddled it several kilometers beyond. He honestly didn't think they were going in the right direction until a small specks of red and light brown entered his line of sight, very far ahead of him in the distance. What is that?

Tsubaki decided to miraculously answer his thoughts. "We're almost there; just about a kilometer away, Naru-chan. And by the way, we're technically in Na no Kuni at this point—don't let the trees fool you. You'll start to see less and less once we get over the ravine."

Naruto looked back at the woman and nodded before resetting his gaze back at the vast, red bridge they were nearing. As they got closer, he took note of the deep ravine that the wooden junction bridged together, but couldn't judge how far down it went. However, thanks to the downwards slope, he could see that there were indeed less trees on the other side, a good sign that they were actually making the transition from Hi no Kuni to Na no Kuni. He was getting sick of seeing trees all of the time when he expected less along the way. Whoever knew, that trees as a visual could eventually become so disappointing and boring to look at.

The three decided to stop on the worn, dirt road path just before the bridge a few meters away as a constant, steady breeze blew in front of them. Mizuki's silver hair danced pleasantly to the wind as they walked together, slowly approaching the bridge step by step. Tsubaki's didn't due to her hair being bound in a ponytail. Naturally, Naruto's hair didn't really do much, other than sway like the grass on the sidelines. It was way too short.

But, he could now confirm that it was indeed Tenchi Bridge thanks to the kanji inscribed delicately on the right beam that supported it. If there was anything weird about the bridge, it was the weird arch in which it was formed, blocking the line of sight across them of the other side. Whoever designed the damn thing most likely didn't have the courtesy to think about shorter individuals, such as children or genetically short people.

Mizuki, Tsubaki and Naruto took their first steps on the bridge, each step generating a thick thump as they crossed. There was no creaking at all, meaning the bridge was very well maintained, sturdy and strong. As they moved, a wild gust of wind continued to blow without any sign of relenting in their faces.

As far as he was concerned, the breeze wasn't exactly gentle or soothing as how Tsubaki explained, but then again, his surroundings didn't appear to look anything close to her detailed description of Kusa's ambience just yet. It was best not to come to conclusions just yet.

Naruto took a quick peek to his left, inadvertently slowing his pace while veering off in that very direction. Gaze focused down below, he discovered that the ravine boasted a deep, narrow river far below them. No wonder the bridge was there—the land itself seemed to be split into two! He quickly concluded that it wouldn't be a good idea to get near the edge—lest he fall to his own premature demise—as he hurried along back to the side of his sensei.

Not too long after, Naruto's ears picked up the sound of wind chimes coming from the other side of the bridge. Quite odd that there would be any around, especially where they were at, but the high-pitched sounds continued to clash and echo to the wind. As they scaled the arch, he quickly discovered the source of the foreign ambience.

At the foot of the bridge stood a tall individual dressed in a blackened shroud—which had reached almost down to the ankles—and a wide-brimmed straw hat. Red cloud patterns riddled its surface and the built-in collar rose high enough to mask the lower mandibles entirely. Only the person's nose could be seen; the was rest obscured to a significant degree by the many ornaments of the straw.

Mizuki, Tsubaki and Naruto each came to a halt a mere two yards away from the shrouded stranger in the way. For a short while, neither party made any attempt to press forward and be on their way, instead being content with simply standing where they were, unmoving. Naruto's eyes scrunched slightly to better identify the person, but to no avail.

The stranger sparingly extended a hand towards the hat, revealing a pitch-black ring with an assortment of symbols etched upon its surface. Slender fingers tenderly clasped around the outer rim as the veil was slowly brought down, further disfiguring its identification. When it had finally came off entirely, Naruto's eyes widened in absolute surprise, needing not more than a moment to recognize the face before him.

"Ah, Naruto-kun... it's been a while, hasn't it?"


	5. Kusagakure IV: Somewhere Safe

**Chapter 4: Somewhere Safe**

* * *

Poor kid_, Mizuki thought as he looked over the feminine horde around him. He decided to resolve this as calmly as possible._

_"Ladies, give it your classmate here a rest. I can't start attendance when all of you are here, out of your seats and bothering this young man."_

_Almost all of the girls ceased their activity for a moment to acknowledge their instructor, but the rest continued to persist in their efforts. They simply saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of so that they could get closer to the boy with minimal resistance, literally and figuratively._

_"Eh? But I'm not bothering Sasuke-kun, sensei! See?" Similar responses flew out of each of their mouths in denial of such a thing._

_Mizuki sighed; it didn't work as well as he thought it would, but it was a start. He decided to try something else while he had some of their focus._

_"I don't care, but if you all keep this up during class-time, then transfers will be in order. Am I clear on that?" he declared more than questioned, adopting a stern speaking manner as his gaze shifted from girl to girl._

_"Hai, sensei..." they simultaneously replied in a dejected tone, but each looked very reluctant to move from their spots; there were still two seats next to Sasuke to be taken and they _all_ wanted those seats. Mizuki saw this and palmed his face. It sure took a lot of effort just to get the class ready for attendance, and this was merely half of the problem._

_"None of you will be sitting next to him, so move along girls."_

_Not surprisingly, a wave of protests battered the new instructor for his apparently terrible decision. Fortunately, he came up with an alternative solution to silence their disobedience, something that gave them no choice in the matter._

_"You there!" he announced loudly so that the class could hear as he pointed an index finger in an arbitrary direction, "yes, you. And the young man in the back, I want you two to sit up in the front row! Hurry it up!"_

_Both students came down to take their new seats next to Sasuke as Mizuki shooed the loitering girls away, much to the Uchiha's relief. Soon enough, the previously unfilled seats at the center and back rows were now occupied by their rightful, and somewhat depressed owners._

_With that over with, he returned to the front of the class, set on claiming the second half of the classroom's attention. Mizuki fumbled around his pockets for a small smoke bomb; when all else fails, resort to shinobi devices. It served well as distractions on the field, so it would definitely be an excellent attention-grabber in the classroom._

_As soon as he got hold of one, he injected a small amount of chakra into its core and chucked it towards the dead center of the classroom with minimal effort. Almost immediately, an audible combustion was heard as smoke quickly dispersed to all four corners of the room. A series of hacks and coughs followed right after as many students voiced out their obvious confusion._

_The smoke quickly diffused, revealling an irritated Mizuki for an instructor in front of the wooden lectern. _

_"Class, now that I have your undivided attention, we'll start by taking attendance!" he declared, loudly once again. "If you are present, raise your hand or you will be marked absent. If your name is called and you do not raise your hand, but are present in the classroom, then you will be kept inside the classroom while everyone else has lunch, so pay attention!"_

_All of the students fell into their places, allowing a golden silence to dance on the classroom desks. _Much better_, Mizuki mused._

_"Good. Let's begin, and remember what I've said, or else." The instructor coughed into his fist as he started to read off the chart, eyes on the watch for hands. "Aburame Shino."_

_"Present," came an answer from the back of the room, hand raised just as instructed._

_Everyone followed suit; names were called and correlating students raised their hand to acknowledge their presence for the instructor. Nobody wanted to miss out on lunch, or for the others, nobody wanted to be transferred to a different class without a certain somebody in it._

_"Uzumaki Naruto."_

_"Here," a child with bright azure eyes and golden hair answered back. As Mizuki took a quick analysis of his physical profile, he could see the determination just burning in those eyes of his. The question was, for what?_

So this is who I'm supposed to look after, huh_, Mizuki thought as he continued down the line of attendance,_ I just hope you aren't too much of a hastle_._

* * *

He didn't know what to think. Memories, scenes, images, discussions, phrases, words, letters. Everything spilled into his mind all at the same time like a million open floodgates. A violent maelstrom, an inner Rasengan that was defined his mind in that split of a second. Filter in, filter out, rinse and repeat; a constant loop that mixed the many elements going at light-speed into one single, but significant event that occurred in his life.

In his momentary befuddlement, Naruto could only stutter out a single word. "O-Orochimaru?"

The now-revealed snake sage grinned upon recognition. "Good... so you do remember. I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten all this time."

Naruto quickly shook his head in refusal. "Never! I wouldn't be able to, actually… I'm not sure what I would do if I forgot," he stated, somewhat still drifting in his mess of thoughts, "but, weren't you supposed to be back at Konoha?"

"I never did exactly say where I was going to come for you, did I?" Orochimaru rhetorically asked.

The boy's gaze dropped slightly, his voice that of a murmur. "…no, not really."

"The point is, you're here now. And, I believe you have Mizuki-kun and Tsubaki-chan here to thank for bringing you to me all in one piece."

The boy looked back at Orochimaru to meet his gaze, his face spelling absolute confusion. "Eh? They're involved in this somehow?"

"Ask them yourself, I'm sure they will gladly oblige," the sage remarked as he motioned for the two to explain themselves. Naruto turned his head to meet the eyes of his sensei, prompting him to speak first.

"You see Naruto, Tsubaki and I are in service of Orochimaru-sama from Kusa and Konoha respectively. I was assigned specifically to oversee your progress when you first enrolled into the academy two years ago, and for us to bring you to Orochimaru-sama on the day of graduation. Does that help fit things together a bit?"

Naruto nodded meekly, piecing together the new open flood of information to fill in the gaps of his strange situation. "I... I guess it does, somewhat..." He thought it over a bit before adding, "but why Kusa, anyway?"

Tsubaki took her queue to explain. "Well Naru-chan... I can easily register both you and Mizuki-kun as Kusa shinobi, since I actually live there. On top of that, Orochimaru-sama's main base of operations isn't too far from Kusa itself. Plus, I don't think you'll mind it. I'm sure you'll enjoy staying at Kusa, Naru-chan." She passed the golden child a reassuring smile as she ruffled his hair gently.

"Oh, also... the Scroll of Seals wasn't exactly on the agenda, you know? The original plan was for Mizuki-kun to take you out of the village to congratulate you on taking the exam. Didn't matter if you failed or not, in case you were wondering."

Orochimaru raised a brow in interest. "Oh? So you have the Scroll of Seals with you right now?"

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama. Naruto somehow managed to steal it and learn a technique on the night after the exams since he believed there was an alternative exam he could take if he failed it," Mizuki elaborated as he unstrapped the large scroll from his back, handing it in the direction of the snake sage.

Orochimaru broke into a mad fit of laughter as he peered into the orbs belonging to Naruto. "Clever child! To be able to snatch the Scroll of Seals right under the noses of a dozen ANBU _and_ the old man, all by yourself? I'm _impressed_! I certainly didn't expect a little gift from you." Naruto blushed lightly to the man's praise.

"Orochimaru-sama, would you like to take the Scroll of Seals?"

Orochimaru gave it a pensive thought. He could take it all for himself. After all, it did contain many _kinjutsu _techniques inside which would no doubt make a fine addition to his collective arsenal. But, was it really _necessary_? His gaze quickly took note of the blonde-haired boy who had perpetrated the feat, then back at the two. He decided against it; he could retrieve it at another point in time. "No, I will not require it," he stated simply.

_D-did he just... no... no way..._ The shared thoughts of Mizuki and Tsubaki prompted them to exchange shocked expressions with each other as their master openly turned down the offer. Orochimaru _never _denied himself the chance to acquire new techniques, especially if said techniques were meant to be_ secret_. Both peered disbelievingly into his golden orbs, expecting an explanation for his abnormal turn-around of a decision.

Orochimaru took note of their faces and decided to elaborate. "Give it to Naruto-kun as a... late graduation present. I believe he can make great use of the techniques inside, don't you agree?" A smile formed on the snake sage's lips.

"H-hai, Orochimaru-sama!" they exclaimed simultaneously as Mizuki set the Scroll of Seals in Naruto's arms. Said child gave the sage a perplexed look.

"Graduation present? But I'm not a shinobi yet." His eyes sunk lower as the last few words were barely audible. "...I didn't make Genin this year."

The pale man merely shook his head is disagreement. "Genin is just a rank, a label, Naruto-kun. It does not define whether you're a shinobi or not. Contrary to what the academy has taught you these past two years, not even the presence of a hitae-ate determines the status of a shinobi. Tell me, if Mizuki were to remove his hitae-ate at this moment, would that make him any less of a shinobi?"

The boy paused before uttering, "...no."

Orochimaru gave Naruto a large grin before continuing. "Beginning to understand that concept now? The fact that you stole the Scroll of Seals is a testament to your cunning and potential... you were already a shinobi long before you set foot out of Konoha."

Naruto quickly recomposed himself the moment he was declared a shinobi. "Hai! Orochimaru... sama," he responded, even giving the snake sage a light bow in respect.

"My, you learn quick! You only get more interesting than ever!" Orochimaru exclaimed, laughing maniacally as he spoke, placing the straw hat back on his head before turning around.

"Now, walk with me. We have places to go and little time to spare."

* * *

_A dog is a man's best friend._

One from the Inuzuka clan would certainly agree with that statement, but as for everyone else? Absolutely not. Some would gladly say the food in their bellies, others would point to the precious kunai or shuriken in their holsters. Few would mention the hive of parasites living in their bodies, even fewer would declare it to be Jashin himself. But for the majority party...

_Icha Icha is a man's best friend._

It takes its place as mankind's greatest landmark and lifetime companion among the Elemental Nations. Unrivaled literature to its hardened competitors, it had essentially broke the ceiling, introducing a whole new level of erotica and steamy, epic romance. To top it all off, romance novels and the likes were now rated on a scale between one and Icha Icha. For a series with a current lifetime of five years, it was absolutely phenomenal and nothing short of genius.

_Icha Icha_, the conqueror of love in all of its forms, the harbinger of maturity be it man or woman, the emancipator of love juice from either party, a divine gift from Kami herself that could make even Jashin cry. World peace under one banner: _Icha Icha_.

If you were single.

But alas, today was not the day to submerge ones' self into the delightful pages of _Icha Icha_. Instead, Kakashi found himself staring at the open pages of his recently updated Bingo Book as he walked along the roads of the village, going nowhere in particular. He had just walked aimlessly, anywhere that his feet would take him.

The Bingo Book was organized in an orderly fashion. S-class nukenin at the top of the food chain found themselves on the first several pages while, the worst of the worst D-class nukenin sandwiched everything in between, all in alphabetical order. It was way too organized for Kakashi's taste. Someone in the ANBU division really had too much time on their hands.

So it wasn't exactly a coincidence when his own book only had the first few pages flipped over—the seventh page to be precise—right before the section in which the transition from S to A-rank occurred. His hold on the bottom-half of the page actually left several crinkles in its wake, immediately constructing a permanent bookmark much to his dismay. Because of this, the book would now always naturally turn to the same seventh page every time he opened it. It would quickly become a haunting reminder on whose face the page owned.

_Sensei's son_.

Regardless, the notion was absolutely ridiculous no matter which way he cut the cake. Perhaps his outlook of it was muddied by his indirect involvement with the boy, but even still. There just had to be another way to go about the whole situation.

He had seen the reasoning behind the decision on part of the Hokage. By placing the abducted child onto the Bingo Book, it would ensure that all of the active Jonin and ANBU operatives would be aware of him. Yes, that's an excellent plan with little backfire. Unfortunately, Kakashi thought otherwise.

There was no guarantee that Naruto would be returned alive, regardless of any precautionary warnings on the procedure of capture. Many could care less, as a matter of fact, since targets are coincidentally much more compliant when they are not breathing at all. The pay rates for dead versus alive often don't deviate much to begin with, so it was not uncommon for an ANBU operative or Jonin to have a collective bounty record made up entirely of death credits for their entire career.

On top of that, Kakashi thought that the ryō pay-out could be seen as another issue. There also was no stopping to a person who got too caught up by the seven and a half million credits and accidentally read the alive capture as a death bounty, or didn't bother reading it at all. This would be true for those that worked on one-track minds, which unfortunately made up a good fraction of the shinobi force. Coupled with the concept that alive prices aren't worth the effort, it was going to stir up a lot of trouble later on.

It would all alchemicize very nicely into a simple one-plus-one equation.

_S-class_, plus the _target being a child_ equates to _lots of ryō, easy pickings_.

And, that wasn't a stupid conclusion to come to. The only problem was the competition; other fellow sharks in the pool are going after the same meal in a winner takes all deal. Only one could have its cake and eat it too, so the question would then be _who_? By the end of the week, everyone and his or her dog would surely know the name Uzumaki Naruto, for the better or worse of things to come.

_Lots of ryō, easy pickings. Lots of ryō, easy pickings._

That very mantra would run through the everyday minds of Kakashi's fellow peers as long as the seventh page survived.

Again, Kakashi just walked.

* * *

The environment that hosted Kusa was as beautiful as Tsubaki described it. No, it was better seeing it with his own two eyes, just like she said. He had wondered why the academy lessons never covered over such a beautiful landscape that was Na no Kuni. All he ever learned were the five elemental nations - Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Iwa and Kiri. Nothing more, nothing less. Never in his life did he hear of Kusa or even Ame until Mizuki and Tsubaki took him away to see it for himself. And for that, he was grateful for such an opportunity.

The suppressing shadow over his eyes lifted itself just a little, and he _loved_ it. It felt so good to see beyond the narrow scope that Konoha trapped him in. He was no longer suffocating in the darkness without light. Now, flickers of brightness joined him to help lift that veil.

There were absolutely no trees to be seen, which he was actually relieved to find out. Instead, an entire meadow stretched on for miles in every direction. The long, vibrant blades of grass lightly kissed his sun-touched legs as he tread through the flourishing fields, waist-deep in nature. There were no dirt paths as far as he was concerned, but he didn't care. There was no need to have a path when anywhere was just as good of a place to settle. The grass was soft to the touch and it had playfully wrapped themselves around him like the gentle arms of a mother. If he didn't know any better, he would say that the grass was his friend, not that it was a bad idea or anything.

The rays of the bright sun danced along the living sea of life, illuminating a landscape of pure, glowing bliss. Delicate zephyrs lovingly licked his cheeks and the aroma of sweet lilacs, jasmine and roses infiltrated his acute nasal bases. Kusa didn't just_ look _amazing, it _smelled_ amazing. Maybe it would_ taste _amazing as well? Ah, that would be a good theory to test out.

Red flowers bloomed in beds of green lush, captivating his spheres of cascading blue in a trance. Red had never been so beautiful. He could actually say that he could live in a world without the color orange, just as long as there was a small shred of red somewhere, anywhere. Suffice to say, he discovered his new, favorite color.

Red. Bright as orange, easy on the eyes and much more lively than any color on the spectrum. _Literally_. No color could ever hope to dream of being so attached to life.

Red. The color of the fluid that ran through the veins that gave a person life. Or maybe it was blue. Was it? It didn't matter to him. The color meant that you were_ alive _and well. That's what was important.

Naruto wondered what it would everything look like when Spring and Summer came around the corner. Vivid madness. Vibrant blossoms. Living grass. The possibilities were endless! Could such seasons bring that much life and beauty in one area? If so, then he couldn't wait for Autumn to end. It would be one season closer to Spring. It was such a shame that Summer had met its fateful end for the year, a shame that it was a Summer too-long spent in Konoha. If he could, he would bet that even a terrible winter night in Kusa would be better than all of the days combined in Konoha.

Maybe, just maybe... this was the home that Orochimaru was talking about? If the land could speak, it would most surely be calling his name. Yes, just _his_ name. Nobody elses', just his and his alone. Something like this was worth the two years' wait. Totally worth it. All things come in good timel; that he was sure of.

Naruto was lost in his own thoughts of bliss and peace. He could drown in the tangles of the grass and die happily without a care in the world. It was a sight for those with a pair of blessed eyes. The wind was his caretaker and the grass kissed him good-night. That was all that was needed to seal the deal.

Unfortunately, ignorance is a bad teacher.

* * *

"...Naruto."

"…"

"...Naruto!"

"…"

"...NARUTO!"

A ball of yellow shot up from the shoots of the tall grass. "Huh? What? Who's there?"

The child drowsily rubbed his eyes and let loose an audible yawn before lazily smacking his lips. Three blurred figures materialized in his vision, but he couldn't make out their features. The voice calling out to him sure sounded familiar, that much he was sure of.

"Oh... it's just you guys," he irritably grumbled.

Naruto had just been abruptly and rudely awoken from a delightful dream, which was not about ramen. He didn't dream much, but when he did, the dreams were often very pleasant even if they weren't memorable. Much to say, he wasn't happy, and it was only thanks to the enveloping grass that soothed and comforted his agitated nerves. The wind whispered sweet things in his ears as the flower buds pleaded for him to stay. Suddenly, the urge and desire to sleep some more washed over him.

"What do you mean '_just you guys_'? Did you suddenly forget we were heading to Kusa?"

Naruto slowly shook his head as a peaceful smile spread across his face. "Nope... but I think I'm good here..." He let himself sink back into the grass, arms spread away from him as if he were basking in the sun.

"No Naruto, you can't sleep now! You need your two legs to get there, not let them grow roots!" he growled.

Naruto blinked once. "Sorry, Mizuki-sensei… but the grass is so..." He let loose another yawn as his eyes drooped down slowly. "...soft, and relaxing..." Naruto curled up in a ball before mumbling, "…good night."

Mizuki's brow twitched in utter annoyance before stomping over towards the slumbering child. "Idiot!" He bonked the boy's head for good measure. "Wake up! We have to ge—are you even listening to me?!"

The blonde ball in question didn't budge, already dead to the world for all Mizuki knew. He began to wonder if he was trapped in a genjutsu of some sort. Well, it wouldn't hurt to dispel it so they could get a move on. They really didn't have the time to sit around and wait.

"Kai!" Mizuki tapped the boy's shoulder. Naruto didn't show any signs of waking up, irritating the instructor further.

"Kai! Kai! KAI! _KAI_!" Mizuki shouted while forcefully tapping Naruto's shoulder each time. But alas, nothing happened. The only sounds that could be heard was the light breathing of Naruto and the gentle breeze in the air. _It wasn't a genjutsu..._

"Mizuki-kun! What are you doing? Is Naru-chan okay?" Tsubaki called over her shoulder, somewhat wondering why Mizuki was trying to dispel a non-existent genjutsu.

Mizuki hung his head dejectedly in defeat before picking up the child and heading back with the others. "Naruto... you're hopeless! And this isn't even a genjutsu..."

"Just let him rest," the snake sage responded. "Naruto-kun most likely hasn't had a good night's rest since he left."

The silver-haired man let out a sigh as he approached the rest of the group, Naruto in his arms. "Well, I guess so... but jeez, he sleeps like a rock and slips into sleep way too fast!"

"Aww! Naru-chan looks so cute when he's sleepomg!" Tsubaki squealed. "If you don't want to carry him to Kusa, I'll do it!"

Mizuki sighed again, which he noticed was becoming quite normal whenever it involved Naruto. "If you insist."

Needless to say, Naruto was completely oblivious to the cuddle attack the entire way.


	6. Kusagakure V: Starting Over

**Chapter 5: Starting Over**

* * *

_Mizuki set the clipboard down upon the lectern's flat surface as he concluded attendace, turning his back to the class while taking up a piece of chalk. He quickly wrote his name on the board, somewhat neatly, before turning back around._

_"Good morning class, my name is Mizuki and I'll be your Chūnin instructor for the year. This is coincidentally my first year to teach at the academy, so I'll look forward to knowing the lot of you." He set the chalk on the rim of the board before continuing. "We'll begin class by writing our names on the board and introducing a few things about ourselves at the front of the room, starting in reverse order."_

_A female student in middle of the class raised her hand, prompting Mizuki to call on her. "Do you have a question, Yamanaka-san?"_

_She nodded, allowing some of her unsecure blonde hair to sway upon the notion. "Can you start it off? Like as an example we can follow, you know?" she clarified. Mizuki repressed a sigh, instead settling with tilting his head up to stare at the ceiling for a moment. He had forgotten that he was dealing with children, at least up until he vaguely recalled that she was the first one up since the order was reversed. Now it made sense._

_"Alright, I'll start then," Mizuki started as he cleared his throat. "As mentioned earlier, my name is Mizuki. I'm twenty-five years old, of Chūnin rank nearing Jōnin, and engaged to a special someone." At that, many of the female students cooed as if it were the most adorable thing in the world. Apparently, the prospect of someone in love was rather heart-warming to them._

_"Who is she, sensei?"_

_"Can we meet her?"_

_"Is she pretty?"_

_"Sensei, are you getting married?"_

_"Is she a kunoichi?"_

_The questions were shot out rather quickly and out of order, but Mizuki forgave them for now and decided to answer as many of the questions he could. They did have an effect on him, as shown by the small smile on his face._

_"Yep, she's the most beautiful woman I've ever met! Soon, we're going to get married soon. Mhmm, and she even got to Chūnin a year before I did. Ah, that's a secret. But, if you find out who it is, I'll treat you to any place in the village. And no, I won't bring her in, so you'll have to figure it out yourself."_

_"Really? Any place we want?" one of them piped up, unsure if their sensei was teasing them or really setting the offer. It seemed to be the latter._

_"That's correct, but only if you get it right. Anyway, as much as I'd like to talk about her some more, you'll know nothing about me if I do." A handful of girls, most of which had asked the questions in the first place, became slightly upset at this._

_Mizuki's brow twitched slightly to their expressions, but continued regardless. "As I was saying, I like having time to think for myself, and I'm one for positive thoughts. I enjoy eating sushi and all kinds of seafood when I can. I think that some of the ANBU here are creepy, especially at night. And, I'll finish it off with a goal: I aim to be Jōnin in the next three or so years, hopefully sooner than later."_

_Satisfied with his introduction, Mizuki pointed at the first person to question him after attendance finished. "Yamanaka-san, since you're the last person on roll call, you will start first. Remember, write your name on the chalkboard before introducing yourself. You can talk about anything as long as it's about yourself, but don't get too carried away."_

_Ino quickly rose from her seat from the center tables and approached the board, taking a single piece of chalk before writing her full name on its surface. Her introduction was brief, although she would shy away or giggle softly when it came to her personal likes. Mizuki had quickly caught onto this not-so-secret unknown and supressed the urge to smack his forehead._

_When she had finished and returned to her seat, blushing madly all the while, Mizuki announced the next person in line for introductions. "Uzumaki Naruto, you're up."_

_Naruto stood up and walked to the front of the class. There, he took the white chalk and sloppily wrote his name as best he could, not being used to writing on the board. After a few strokes here and there, he set the tool down on the metallic rim before turning around._

_"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm going to be seven next year and I don't have—," he stopped himself, changing his mind as forlorn memories of being alone flooded his mind, "—nevermind... I—"_

_"Wait! You don't have what?"_

_"Yeah, what is it?"_

_The boy frowned at their curiosity. "I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, I think that everyone should get a should get a chance at stuff. It's not fair and it sucks when you can't. I really like ramen, especially when it's miso! Um..." He scratched his chin in thought before continuing, "goal, right? Well, I guess that's a secret since I can't tell anyone." _

_At that, the more talkative of students acted out their disapproval, booing the notion paired with many thumbs down. One student however, was a lot more vocal than the rest._

_"What, is it secret because it's lame?"_

* * *

Shadows crept and prowled in the corners of the room, escaping the wonders of the light. Darkness lived on borrowed time. Their executioner, the open window. Heads would roll, but in its place, another waited for the correct opportunity to spring into action. When that time came, light lived on borrowed time. Its executioner, the unlit candle.

Dawn. The morning air was cool and sweet while the sun rose to greet its children as streaks of gold kissed the face of gleaming blond. Warmth caressed cheeks in a loving way and the hummingbirds outside sung a waking hymn.

Wake up.

_Five more minutes._

But the hard floor protested.

Naruto's eyes fluttered open to the sight of white and brown, blurs in his vision. Where was he? What happened to the green, yellow, red and blue? The soothing wind and friendly grass didn't greet him today. So what was hugging him? It sure wasn't the grass. Eyes peered over his shoulder_—__blankets_. He sighed.

The sun would be his companion for the day.

Naruto found himself in a room. White walls, brown wooden frames; that's what the blurs were. He groggily sat up from the covers, aching back hunched over with eyes half-lidded. Dizzy, he felt dizzy. A hand instinctively came to his forehead as he closed down the windows to his soul. Naruto remained in the same position for several fleeting moments, replaying everything he went through the day before.

_Lots of trees. Vest. A kind woman. More trees. That weird bridge. Orochimaru. Shinobi. Less trees. Grass bed. Bright sun. Wind. Flowers. Dreaming._

_Kusa._

A lazy smile crept on his face as he struggled with his half-awake body. Stumbling a few times, he made it to the door and slid it open, using one arm to support himself from falling through the delicate partition.

"Morning, Naruto. You slept through the rest of the day and all night in case you were wondering."

Naruto mumbled something incoherently as he rubbed his eyes, slowly making his way forward into the larger room. But he was stopped by a hand holding his shoulder. It was his sensei.

"Get yourself washed up, you look like a mess. I'll get you a new set of clothes which I'll leave in your room, okay?"

The child simply nodded his head before blinking lazily. "Right..." Then he noticed his stomach. "...food."

Mizuki stiffled a laugh. "The ramen deal. I still haven't forgotten that, but it seems like you have!"

"No, never. I wouldn't ever forget about ramen. Can't get enough," he quickly corrected while shaking his head in denial.

Naruto moved a few steps forward but suddenly came to a halt. He realized he didn't know where he was going in the first place. "Um... sensei." He turned around to face said man.

"...where's the bathroom?"

* * *

The pitter-patter of water rang through his ears as Naruto set off to dry his wet form. Liquid bullets ran down his face only to plop violently against the wooden floor as he reached for a towel. The haze of steam clung to his peachy skin before the white cloth came, a double layer of warmth. A good bath solved many problems, and it felt good.

He freely stretched out his body with his back no longer aching, letting the blood and chakra flow so openly from head to toe. A groan of relief escaped his lips as wet feet scampered along the floor, crossing boundaries from warm to cold. It served as a small shock to his system when he left the steamy room and into the silent hallway.

The heated mist followed his every move, his steps leaving behind a lingering trail of haze in its wake. Third door to the right; his room. The sliding door revealed a fresh stack of clothes on top of the makeshift bed with the Scroll of Seals resting on its side. He was going to have to do something about the scroll, it would be stupid to just leave it out in the open like that. But first, a change of clothes.

Naruto made his way to the bed before taking his seat on the floor. He took the small stack and lay it on his lap. Red shirt, black pants, grey boxers. At least there was red, but he wouldn't mind a bit of green, yellow or orange.

It would do.

* * *

"I still don't understand why you like ramen so much," Mizuki mused out loud as he finished his second order of lobster tail. _Just where does all of that food go in that boy?_

The sound of a bowl colliding against the table marked Naruto's third serving of miso ramen. "It's warm, delicious and filling_—_everything a growing boy like me needs."

"But it's not exactly... nutritious, you know. You need your fair share of greens too."

Naruto gave his sensei an expression of disgust. "Vegetables? Yuck! Besides, I eat rice once in a while..." A fourth order of miso ramen arrived at the table. The bowls didn't look all that big.

Mizuki let out a sigh. "Naruto, you really need to broaden your appetite. You won't be able to eat ramen every day like how you did in Konoha." Said boy only gave him a blank stare before starting on his bowl. "We're in _Kusa_, Naruto. Do you know what that means? There's an _abundance_ of fruit and vegetables for crying out loud! At least tell me you like fruit..."

The child stopped eating for a moment to give it some thought. "Just a little, but I don't really care for it. Why?" The next second, his face was back in the bowl.

"It's a start." A moment passed before a brilliant idea popped in Mizuki's head. "Hey Naruto, you still want that flak jacket, don't you?"

The resounding echo of bowl upon table_—_the fourth one. "Of course I do, I really, really, really, _really_ want one."

The silver-haired man gave him an odd grin. "Well, I heard that if you were to eat your vegetables and fruit once in a while, you'll start to grow _really_ fast."

The boy choked on his late bite before turning a shade paler. "You're not serious, are you? That's got to be a lie. You're just trying to get me to eat that stuff."

Mizuki shrugged. "Suit yourself. I just thought you could use a little bit of advice from sensei on how to get that vest sooner. You did say you wanted it pretty bad."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

"Nutrition, Naruto. Your body needs it. Without the proper nutrients, it won't grow properly. A shinobi needs to eat and think healthy. You're welcome to prove me wrong if you think otherwise."

The blond-haired child pondered in thought. He honestly never really tried other vegetables since he was primarily led by one horrible encounter with said food. Fruit he didn't mind, just that it was cheaper and easier to get ramen instead. It tasted good, sweet at times even, but he never exactly held the luxury of truly enjoying it for what it was worth. And he wouldn't know unless he tried it for real next time.

If his sensei said it would help him grow to get that vest sooner, then he'd do it. Not even measly vegetables will get in the way between him and that.

The problem was, there was only one kind of fruit that Naruto actually tasted and knew its name. But even then, the memory of its taste was rather foggy no thanks to not having eaten one for years. Fortunately, as far as he remembered, said fruit was not that bad; it just didn't show up in Konoha all that often. It was rare he figured, so even Kusa might not have a supply of them. But, Mizuki did say there was a lot of fruit around Kusa, so maybe they would have it around here, too. He just needed to ask, and that he did.

"Sensei... do you know where we can get... strawberries?"

* * *

His taste buds cried tears of joy as he bit into the soft red flesh, its sweet juices quickly filling the inside of his mouth. Instantly, the memory of his first encounter with strawberries invaded his mind in great detail. The taste, the feel, the smell. Naruto remembered now, but the strawberry from years ago did not correspond with the one currently rolling around in his mouth. No, this one was more vibrant, sweet,_ fresh_. Fresh, unlike the memory from Konoha.

Strawberries from Kusa were absolutely delicious. Were they better than the blessed food that was ramen? No, but still, they were delicious, sweet and juicy. His taste buds may have not cried waterfalls, but a stream of tears was good enough. Happy taste buds and a happy stomach, that's what mattered most right now.

Mizuki and Naruto strolled through the streets of lively Kusa. For a moderate-sized village, it sure was quite busy. Dozens of fruit stands promising long life flooded the square as several clusters of village residents rushed over for a quick breakfast before heading to the fields. It was the time of year; the final cultivation of Autumn before Winter was fast approaching and Na no Kuni needed to prepare for the harvest. Then, a week-long Winter festival would be held to celebrate the fruits of hard labor. Kusa would be _very_ busy then, and Naruto had no idea of the traditions here.

But it was nice seeing_ other people _again. Although, he did notice lots of older folks and not a lot of kids his age running around for some reason_. Oh right, there's probably a ninja academy somewhere here._

Mizuki decided to break the silence with a question. "So Naruto, what do you think of Kusa thus far?"

The boy in question paused to think for a moment to sum up everything he had seen so far. "I like it. I could get used to staying here. The outside is great and so far, I haven't met anyone that's annoying."

The man smirked. "Well, don't get too comfortable."

Naruto took his sensei's suspicious smirk in consideration. "...why not, sensei?"

"Oh, you'll be enrolled in Kusa's academy three days from now," Mizuki responded in the most casual manner he could.

The child's mouth stood agape in disbelief. "What?! I_ still _have to go through _that_? B-but_—_"

"Yes, and _technically_ you didn't pass the graduation exam," his sensei chided. "Tsubaki-chan already finished the paperwork while you were asleep, so you don't really have a choice."

"But sensei!" Naruto protested, hoping that Mizuki would have a change of heart. Instead, the man tapped the Kusa hitae-ate on his forehead, prompting Naruto cross his arms and scowl.

Mizuki let out a sigh. "Listen Naruto, the academy in Kusa is not the same as the one in Konoha. As a matter of fact, the curriculum here is, in my opinion, more advanced."

"How so?"

"Do you know what exercises to take to improve chakra control?" the man asked, knowing very well what the answer would be.

Naruto winced. "Err... no, I don't."

"Do you know what an elemental affinity is?"

"...no."

A triumphant grin split Mizuki's face in half. "So there, already _two_ things that the _Kusa_ academy will teach you that _Konoha_ didn't bother mentioning. Besides, you should take this opportunity to get to know your fellow peers. You may be working alongside them one of these days."

He_ did _have a point. After all, he didn't exactly have friends back in Konoha. Well, at least, he didn't make an effort to be anyone's friend anyway. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start all over with Kusa. Maybe he could make a friend or two while he was at it. It would be nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't your sensei all the time.

"...fine."

Mizuki gently pat the boy's head in approval. "Good, you can have the rest of the day to yourself. Get comfortable and do what you want. If you need me or Tsubaki-chan, you know where to find us."

"Hai, sensei." And it was then that Naruto finally realized that something was missing, just before Mizuki could turn around and disappear. "By the way, is Orochimaru-sama still here?"

"Sort of, he'll be around but he's very busy at the moment. But don't worry about it, you'll see him again soon," Mizuki replied with a reassuring smile. "Remember, you know where to find me!" As soon as the man finished speaking, he flickered away to Kami knows where.

"Yeah, yeah... whatever," Naruto grumbled as he walked through the streets alone.

* * *

Absolute boredom filled Naruto's mind, so he continued to walk aimlessly through the busy, winding streets. The cobble paths were smooth in contrast to Konoha's rough dirt ones while grass actually grew everywhere he went. Dirt seemed non-existent for the most part. Because of this, the streets really did look alive, and it didn't need people to give it a sense of life. He wondered how it would feel like when the sun abandoned the world. Treading the streets alone in peace under the brilliant moonlight. That would be something.

Somehow, Naruto found himself standing before the wide, open gateway of Kusa leading out. The tall walls were made of a stone, covered in long, hanging vines that draped and coiled themselves all over the place like a curtain of snakes. The gate itself was nothing more than two gargantuan trees that shared the same arch in the sky, seemingly connected to each other. More vines hung from the sky-high branches, swaying lightly as a gentle breeze made its entry. How this 'gate' would close, he didn't know. There were no large wooden doors as far as he was concerned, so how would Kusa protect itself from enemy targets infiltrating the village?

The ground seemed to respond as a series of vines burst from the undergrowth, quickly entangling themselves around both of Naruto's ankles. Needless to say, the boy couldn't move from his spot.

"Gah! What the hell? Let me go!" Naruto shouted at particularly nobody as he made futile attempts to free himself.

A voice coming from particularly nowhere answered back, "hey, kid! Aren't you going to sign out?"

"Sign... out?" The boy blinked in surprise, before looking around. First his left, and then his right. It was then he saw it.

The right tree. Aside from being part of the wall, it seemed to serve as a small garrison. It hosted a young man inside where a few stacks of paper were spread out before him. The bandanna with an attached Kusa hitae-ate and black glasses were the person's only notable features. How that man got the roots to hold his ankles in place, he didn't know. It certainly was a good way to stop people from coming in or out, that much he was sure.

"Okay, okay! I'll sign out, just let me go already!" As soon as Naruto finished speaking, the roots retracted themselves back into the ground, leaving no trace of their presence at all. The boy walked up to the base of the tree, taking a look at two distinct stacks_—_one for visitors and one for residents. He sifted through the visiting pages and found his name before taking hold of the given pen.

"Oh, so you're one of the new ones, huh? Sort of explains why you didn't know."

"I, uh... forgot," Naruto sheepishly replied as he sloppily signed his name on the outbox. It was obviously a lie_—_he was _asleep_ the entire way.

"Right..." the man waved off the excuse. "Anyway, the name's Midori, Kusa's Chūnin gate guard. You will check in with me every time you enter or leave Kusa's perimeter. Shiba, the other Chūnin gate guard, will be present in my absence, but you will go through the same checking process. Got it?"

Naruto simply nodded. He got most of what he was saying._ Midori. Check in and out every time. And what was that other guy's name? Eh, whatever, someone not important I guess._

"Thanks, Midori-san."

Just as the golden child started walking away, Midori felt the need to question the premise. "Wait, you're going outside the village alone?"

Naruto just flashed him a grin. "Yeah, I won't be too far. Just want to look around outside, that's all."

The man just shrugged. "Uh, okay then... be safe." Whatever the boy's reasons were wasn't of his business he assumed.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon! See 'ya!"

And with that, he ran off without looking back.

* * *

A blur of yellow, red and black flashed through the tall grass under the watchful sun. The breeze swept along the contours of Naruto's body, allowing him to run around at full speed without worry of the wind opposing him. It seemed to conveniently move out of the child's way as if he were its lord and master.

He stopped at the base of a tall, lonesome tree atop a small hill, over-watching the wide acres of the meadow. It became the center of attention among a sea of grass at the high tide, surrounded by the growth of flowers that bloomed of pink and red. The tree served as the only source of shade out in the open, something that appeared to be a rarity, a luxury. A temptation to slump against the trunk of the tree swept over him, but he thought better of it. He instead took refuge next to the base of the tree, within the soft confines of the grass. The grass accepted him with open arms and the flower buds kissed his cheeks.

"Seems like a good time... to rest a bit."

Naruto lightly yawned as he quickly delved into the precious world of sweet slumber; the tall grass blanketing his small form and the wind lulling him into a deep sleep. Nothing could ever hope to drive him awake. The lonesome tree his guardian angel and the flowers his company.

Coming back soon was a lie.


	7. Kusagakure VI: Tasting Kusa

**Chapter 6: Tasting Kusa**

* * *

_"What, is it secret because it's lame?"_

_Several eyes redirected themselves to a young girl near the back of the room, who had her amaranth pink hair held steady by a distinctive red band. Her foul, jaded expression and manner of speaking was no doubt a concoction of the incident before attendance._

_Naruto's face quickly twisted into a scowl as he focused his attention on the new speaker. "No, it's secret because you don't need to know." _

_"Because it's dumb and not worth sharing," she quipped._

_Naruto was about to fire off another retort but his instructor beat him to it. "That's enough you two! Haruno-san, everyone is entitled to their own secrets. If Uzumaki-san chooses not to tell for whatever reason it may be, then that is that," Mizuki spoke with finality. "Thank you for sharing, Uzumaki-san. You may sit down now."_

_The boy snorted at not being able to have the last remark in the heat of the argument. Instead of trying that, he shoved both hands into his pockets and walked back to his seat, face still contorted into a dark scowl. Haruno Sakura simply glared elsewhere, her rotten mood still at an all-time high._

_Mizuki swiped the board clean with a white rag as Naruto went off, sighing at the most recent exchange between his two students. It was amazing, really, that some children quickly made enemies on their first day at the academy. Better yet, the instructional period didn't even begin._

_Naruto in the meanwhile, decided to daydream until the rest of the introductions finished. It helped him cool off as it allowed his mind to wander elsewhere, just anywhere that didn't bring him to think about his disrespectful classmate. After all, he didn't need to know or acknowledge his peers if he didn't plan to stick around for long anyway._

_As Uchiha Sasuke was called up, Naruto tuned out the following cacophony of senseless noise from most of the girls in the class. By the time Sasuke got his name out, Naruto was already lost in his own world of imagination. Pleasant thoughts, they were._

_"So, you're Naruto, huh?"_

_He quickly detached himself from the fantasies he drifted off into as he turned his head over to the person speaking to him. His neighbor turned out to be a boy with messy dark brown hair—similar to his own aside from color—wearing a plain grey shirt. The most distinctive features were the large scarlet markings on each cheek, a possible reminiscent of fangs of some sort. He seemed to look rather bored, if the hands behind his head were of any indication._

_For the most part, Naruto didn't catch anything his neighbor said to him._

_"Huh, what was that?"_

_The answer rewarded him with a frown. "Gee, where the heck were you? I was just asking if you were Naruto."_

_"Yeah, that's me." Thinking that was all to be asked of him, Naruto settled with looking dumbly at the front of the classroom, no longer in the mood to daydream. As it turned out, time didn't seem to pass by quickly, seeing as how the same boy—Uchiha Sasuke—was still up at the board._

_"So, about that dream of yours…"_

_"No," Naruto responded flatly. He did not intend to grace it with an answer, given his first impression of the class from earlier._

_"Dang, it's not like I'm asking for your lunch. I don't think goals are dumb."_

_Naruto didn't look any bit convinced. "_Sure_."_

_"Well, you can tell me. If it helps, I promise I won't laugh."_

_He sighed at that. Although, after giving it a tiny bit of thought, it wouldn't hurt to throw his neighbor a bone to get off of his case. So, he decided to humor him._

_"I just want to graduate."_

_The boy seemed to nod at that. "Not bad, it's a good start."_

_Naruto tore his gaze away from the front and to his seat-mate, brow raised. "You think so?"_

_"I think so. Big sis says it's good to start off small before you dream big."_

_He shrugged at that as his eyes began to wander elsewhere. "I guess."_

_"Anyway," his started, catching Naruto's attention once more, "I'm Kiba. So how about it, friends?"_

_Naruto didn't expect that to come out of his neighbor's mouth. Nobody really wanted to be his friend, so it was rather new, and very much alien in a way. But yet, Orochimaru's words rang through his head as a constant reminder._

_'_I hope you don't have too many ties here… it'd be a pity to sever those close bonds so suddenly._'_

_Although he didn't intend to make friends anyway, he figured it wouldn't hurt to make _one_. Just as long as he didn't get too close, of course._

_A small smile came upon Naruto's features as he finally answered the hanging offer, "...yeah. Friends."_

* * *

"Stop slacking, Kakashi!" Gai shouted as the rear of his heel quickly swept around into a spinning low kick. "**Konoha Reppū**!"

The ANBU operative swiftly jumped just in time before the taijutsu specialist could sweep his feet off the floor, while at the same time delivering a retaliating side kick of his own directed at Gai's face. The defendant rapidly drew his right arm and expertly pushed the kick away, causing Kakashi to stumble in the middle of his attack and leaving him no time to recover in midair.

"This is your final mistake_—_keep your feet on the ground!" Taking direct advantage over his opponent's lack of time to properly recover, Gai unleashed a multitude of low and high kicks aimed at Kakashi, each kick coming at a greater speed than the one before it. "**Konoha Senpū**!"

The direct blows of the kicks battered the silver-haired man's shoulders and thighs, with the culminating kick aimed directly at his midsection. Kakashi had only been able to sloppily block the few initial kicks with his arms before the assault became too fast for him to keep up. On the moment of the last kick's brutal impact, Kakashi found himself imbedded within the base of a tree, nearly uprooting it entirely in the process. The man's body slumped along the wooden surface before falling victim to gravity; Kakashi soon found himself groveling in the soil. Such an image was most unfit for the one-eyed operative.

"That makes us thirty to twenty seven, my eternal rival!" Gai grinned_—_once again victorious_—_as he quickly made his way towards the beaten body of his rival. The friendly competition between the two colleagues normally stood flat even or held a one-point advantage over the other. However as of late, the score had begun to grow increasingly uneven, placing Gai three points ahead of Kakashi. As a matter of fact, those same three points were starting a dangerous streak, something rather unheard of between the two.

Kakashi sighed as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground, admitting his third defeat in a row. He didn't seem to care all that much, however. "Yeah… I guess it does…"

Gai carefully observed his rival's reaction to the loss. "What's the matter Kakashi? You seem to be losing your touch," the spandex-wearing man stated, hoisting up his friend into a standing position before facing him.

"…it's nothing, Gai. I still have it in me," Kakashi replied, wanting to believe the words coming out of his mouth. But alas, he knew otherwise; the issue with the Bingo Book, still at large in the confines of the mind, was taxing on his train of thought. The only reason Kakashi even agreed to the spars as of late were to keep his mind off of it, but much to his disappointment, it did little to remedy that. As a result, he found himself distracted and detached from his immediate surroundings.

Gai, on the other hand, simply shook his head. He was not one bit convinced. "You're a terrible liar, you know that? I can tell that something is bothering you and I'm not just talking about the sudden break in score. You're making careless mistakes, and I'll bet on one of my techniques that you're very well aware of that. So which is it_—_a problem at home, not scoring with the ladies, or… is it something else?"

Kakashi averted his gaze away his from rival. "It's more of a personal problem, and I don't feel like talking about it…"

"Now, I'm not trying to be your therapist or anything, but it _does_ help to talk about it. I'm all ears if you have anything to say." Gai waited several moments, expecting his friend to speak up. He settled with a sigh instead when Kakashi chose not to speak further on the matter. It didn't help that the man kept whatever it was all bottled up inside all for himself.

"Kakashi, when you decide to wake up, let me know. I'll be waiting."

This time, the ANBU operative turned back towards Gai. But before he could even do anything else, the man had disappeared in a flicker, leaving Kakashi to his own thoughts alone on the training grounds.

* * *

A cascade of sunlight broke through the window, gently brushing the smooth skin of Karin's cheeks as the lids of her eyes closed shut in deep concentration. She possessed the **Kagura Shingan**, a unique ability that could observe, detect and identify chakra signatures in detail at long ranged distances. With a current maximum range of three kilometers and counting, she could easily be the target of envy among many sensor shinobi. And better yet, even as a nine-year old academy student entering her fourth year, her detection range rivaled that of an intermediate-leveled sensor. The Kagura Shingan was nothing short of impressive.

"One… Two… Three…" she murmured quietly to herself as the range of her blessed sight extended outwards. Hundreds of signatures came into view which she quickly dismissed as the range continued further. The progressing distance eventually came to a momentary halt. Then finally, an abrupt break of concentration shattered everything she had worked up to. Instantly, the eye's power began to recede, her vision rapidly returning to normal.

"Damn! Not again…" Karin angrily cursed out loud as the lids of her ruby eyes fluttered back open. She allowed herself to collapse on the bed from her seated position, It had been the ninth time in a row that she had failed to go beyond the scope of three kilometers using her prized ability for the day. Each subsequent kilometer beyond the first demanded focus and concentration along with a small expenditure of chakra to extend its detection range. While not so taxing on her reserves, she discovered that it could only be maintained and improved by means of absolute concentration. The stronger the focus, the further her eyes could see.

If one thing was clear, it was that Karin was not focused at all. The fact she had previously failed multiple times didn't help at all, and if anything, it only served to frustrate her more. She had not made any sort of progress lately, facing the brutality of stalemate for a good four weeks. For the most part, it was rather demoralizing.

_Come on Karin, you can do this! You just need to stay focused and concentrate… clear the mind and stay calm_, she reminded herself. _Don't think about those other nine times, just focus!_

Karin closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then let it go. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. She repeated the actions as the storm of her mind gradually calmed down, restoring her inner focus little by little. Once it cleared, she began to concentrate again, opening the Kagura Shingan. Karin directed a steady stream of chakra towards both optical nerves as her focus began to intensify.

"One… two… three…" _Come on… three and a fourth… three and a half…_ A small bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. _Three and three fo—_ She suddenly stopped, the entirety of her focus set on a single signature in the far distance, about a kilometer away from the front gate. It wasn't moving. Karin began to meticulously observe her target for a few lingering moments before allowing the Kagura Shingan to recede. _That chakra… why did it feel… warm?_ Her eyes flashed open in utter surprise.

She wasn't too sure on what to do at that moment. Chakra signatures weren't supposed to emit any sort of feel to them from what she knew using the Kagura Shingan; she scanned thousands of signatures in her life yet none actually made her feel anything, so that was an entirely new experience for her. Chakra was just chakra, right? But whatever it was out there, it wasn't normal and it definitely caught her growing interest. She decided to act on that reason alone.

Karin sat up from her seated position on the bed, quickly grabbing her boots and slipping into them before bolting out the door. She didn't even bother shutting it behind her - investigating the identity of the mysterious chakra signature was the first thing on her list of priorities; it was _that _interesting and she was eager to know. Wasting no time in her impatient advance, she took to the rooftops the moment she left her abode, drawing on a small trickle of chakra to enhance her speed and jumping distance.

* * *

Within a span of a few minutes, Karin reached Kusa's main gateway and nearly forgot about the Chūnin gate guards that kept watch. She managed to stop herself a mere few feet away from where the hidden roots would've shot up and disabled her, instead taking a quick right turn towards the side of the gate. She approached the active gate guard and hastily took the residents' stack along with the given pen, neatly signing her name on the outbox.

"It's nice to see you again Karin-san, seems like you're in a hurry." Midori stated.

Karin quickly nodded. "I am actually. Just found something interesting, that's all."

The guard raised a brow. "That's all, huh? Aright then, whatever you say… by the way, if you happen to see a blond-haired kid about your age out there, tell him to come back." The man stole a quick glance at his small pocket watch before returning his attention to Karin.

The scarlet-haired girl cast him a curious glance as she passed the stack towards Midori. "What for? Did something happen to him?"

Midori shook his head. "Nah, it's just the gaki said he'd be back soon, but he has yet to show up. It's been about... three hours since he left." He shrugged. "He's supposedly not too far away, but if he's around I'm sure you can find him. Someone at home must be getting worried…"

"Uh… sure, I'll keep an eye out for him if he's around," she hesitantly agreed. Karin honestly didn't really care, it wasn't as important compared to what she was looking for. "Anyway, got to go, see you later Midori-san!"

The man waved her off as Karin took off in a sprint, heading further away from the gates with each passing moment. She took a moment to open up her Kagura Shingan, tracking down the lone signature somewhere out in the distance. Almost immediately, the same chakra signature appeared, this time not so far away from her current position and somehow a bit warmer than before. As the power receded once again, Karin faced a little to her right, taking notice of a lonely tree atop a hill several meters away. _It's over there, right next to that tree._

As she neared her mysterious target, Karin began to slow her pace, breaking from a jog and into a walk. As she captured the sight of a small speck of gold and red in the tall grass, her approach progressively slowed down with each advancing step, taking caution now only a few yards away. Karin took her stop only a mere few feet away, both of her ruby orbs locked onto a boy not much older than her slumbering peacefully within the confines of the tall grass. His body was turned away from her, so she couldn't see his face from the back of his head. _Huh, this must be the boy Midori-san was talking about… _She peered a bit over, catching a better look at him. _And… he was gone for three hours because he decided to take a nap? Okay..._

Karin closed her eyes as her blessed vision took its queue. She immediately began to feel the light warmth radiating off of the boy's chakra signature. But again, the warmth seemed to be a bit stronger than when she felt it near the gate. It appeared to have gotten warmer the closer she got to the blond boy near her. _Whoa… this boy's chakra feels… good. I wonder..._

She got a little bolder with her advance, continuing to approach until she stood directly over the boy's sleeping figure. He didn't seem to take notice of her presence at all. For some reason, she began to feel the same warmth she sensed when using the Kagura Shingan, only… she wasn't using it. Sure, it was only a trickle of warmth compared to actually using her blessed vision, but she still felt _something_.

Karin lightly knelt down into the clusters of grass as her hand hesitantly but gradually reached for the boy's left shoulder. She instinctively retracted her hand when her fingers made direct contact with him, but replaced them back where they formerly were when he didn't stir. She sighed in relief, exerting more confidence in her actions. Karin gently pulled his shoulder a bit back, slowly turning his body towards her. The adjustment to his sleeping position had him laid out on his back. It was then that she finally could observe his still-sleeping face.

He didn't look that bad, really. In fact, he looked a bit cute for a boy; at least she thought so. A rounded face and spiky blonde hair. But the boy's whisker marks seemed a bit peculiar, so she carefully experimented by stroking them lightly with the backside of her curled index and middle fingers. The action caused the blond-haired boy to wince at the new presence and for Karin to flinch and close her eyes. As they slowly opened, she caught a glimpse of a smile gracing itself upon his lips. His eyes were still closed shut. At that same moment, the warmth of his chakra slightly changed to a calming aura, allowing her to steadily relax in his presence.

Karin did the only thing she could think of to enjoy the bit of feelings radiating off his chakra signature_—_laying down right next to him. As she began to settle down in the confines of the grass, a light blush colored the surface of her cheeks. Karin found herself in a comfortable position after shuffling around a few times, facing and staring at the side of the boy's face only inches away from her own. _I hope he doesn't mind, _she mused as the windows to her soul slid down, letting the warmth and calming nature of the chakra to engulf her body.

Karin sighed in content as the good graces of sleep washed over her.

* * *

Ever since Naruto arrived in Kusa, he had been wondering the answer to one of his questions.

He had _seen_ Kusa and found it to be simply amazing. It was just wonderful and most of all, beautiful in his eyes. He had also _smelled_ Kusa and found that to be simply amazing as well. It had been a good change from smelling pine all of the time back in Konoha, that much he was sure of. A change in scenery was much needed, and it had turned out for the better. So that left only one question in his mind_—_what did Kusa _taste_ like?

The first thing he saw was something red in front of him. From what he remembered, a lot of things that looked red tasted pretty good, like the fresh strawberries from that fruit stand back in the village. Sweet, juicy and delicious_—_his first impression. Red had also smelled nice like the ruby flowers when he first set foot in the tall grass of Kusa. So naturally he figured that, since whatever it was in front of him, it would taste pretty good as well, simply because its color was red. All that Naruto needed to do was to find out for sure if he was right or not.

Naruto brought both of his arms around the red object in front of him, drawing it closer to his body. The first thing he noticed was that it felt warm, so he gave it a test smell - a small sniff before deciding to taste it. The warm red object smelled of a variety of things that were along the lines of sweet and creamy. He couldn't determine what it smelled like, but it was good enough for him to keep going.

The blond-haired child gave the object a small lick to determine a bit of its taste, but was actually surprised when it tasted like nothing. No, it didn't taste of anything. It was just warm, almost hot on his tongue. _Hm that's weird_, he thought, but he didn't let it stop him. Instead, he decided to continue on with what he intended to do. Naruto put some of it in his mouth and began to lightly nibble on it.

Before he could actually really taste it, he suddenly found himself separated from the red object for some reason. That was very weird, and why was did his face sting? He didn't know the answer to that. And what was that noise? Whatever it was, it was pretty loud. As far as he was concerned, food doesn't make noise, so it all must have been a dream.

Some dreams can get pretty weird, he figured.

* * *

**Kagura Shingan**: _Mind's Eye of Divine Entertainment_


	8. Kusagakure VII: Making Bonds

**Chapter 7: Making Bonds**

* * *

_The second day at the academy ran a lot differently than the first, and it wasn't that Naruto's lungs were desperately pleading for a breather, even though that was new. But rather, personal evaluations were taking place with orientation out of the way. This was standard protocol to update the official profiles and documents of young, prospective shinobi within the village. Well, at least for the sections that concerned the status of a ninja anyway._

_Height and measurements, weight, blood type and all. But by far the most important process involved in the evaluations were the gauging of a student's chakra reserves. Although it was mainly done to easily scope out any prodigies or individuals bearing potential within a class cluster, one could roughly determine how early a student has unraveled his or her chakra coils. The general rule of the thumb was, _the earlier the better.

_Once the physical aspects of the evaluation concluded, Mizuki had all of his students sent back to the classroom. There was no need to stay any longer at the village's main hospital. "Alright class, today I will be gauging each of your chakra levels. To do this you will—yes, what is it, Uchiha-san?"_

_"I don't think half of the class knows what 'chakra' is, sensei. Maybe you can explain what it is first?" the young student pointed out. A good number of children in the classroom nodded in agreement while the rest looked at their sensei expectantly. It was made apparent that the concept of chakra was not exactly understood, much to the silver-haired Chūnin's dismay._

_Mizuki mentally berated himself for overlooking such a fundamental aspect of the shinobi world. "Ah, forgive me. I was under the impression that everyone knew." He let out a sigh of disappointment, directed more towards the class rather than his mistake, before recomposing himself._

_"For those of you that don't know," he began as his eyes darted to the left and right, "chakra is an energy naturally produced inside the body. It's like blood__—_while it doesn't flow through our bodies within veins and arteries, chakra instead flows through a network of coils. When this energy is molded, we can perform techniques shinobi commonly refer to as a jutsu." At that point, Mizuki had masterfully reeled in the attention of the entire classroom; not even the slackers from the first day of class were inattentive to his quick lecture, or for some, a detailed review. Now, it was time for the more interesting part of the lesson.

_"However, it is imperative to know that our bodies run on a certain amount of chakra to function normally in our day-to-day lives. This basically means that, without an ounce of chakra running through your networks, you're as good as dead." A fraction of the class paled at that remark, something that didn't go unnoticed by Mizuki. The man's lips curled into a small smirk at their reaction._

_"This is as much as you need to know for now. As I said before, I will be gauging each of your chakra levels. What I need you all to do is to make this hand sign," he said as he proceeded to demonstrate Ram hand sign, "and focus your mind." The moment Mizuki's hands locked into the after-mentioned sign, the sound of a lonesome ping echoed through the classroom; an audible indication of the molding taking place._

_"Once that's done, you will begin to mold the chakra inside your bodies. But don't worry, it's not exactly dangerous since you won't be doing anything with it," he reassured. "Three of you will come up to the front at a time to perform this, and you are to stop the moment you begin to feel tired. When that happens, I will record your time." Mizuki took the clipboard from the lectern before returning his attention to the class. "This is not a competition, so _don't_ overdo it," he added sternly. "The last thing I need is a student rushed over to the hospital for chakra exhaustion."_

_"Aburame Shino, Akimichi Choji and Akado Yoroi, please come up to the front of the class and perform the hand sign."_

_The three mentioned students calmly stood up from their seats before approaching the front, each of them conveniently lined up in the order in which they were requested. Shino and Yoroi's faces were collected and calm, but that was simply assumed. In actuality, it was nigh impossible to tell if their faces could form facial expressions at all, no thanks to their choice of clothing and preference of fashion. But on the other hand, Choji began to fidget nervously under the attention of his peers._

_At the back of the class, Naruto lazily looked over the chicken-scratch he called notes as a steady flow of students brushed down the lanes and back up. With the concept of chakra largely foreign to his mind, he originally decided to write down notes first and review at home. But since the process was once again in alphabetical order, Naruto reconsidered the fact that now would be the most ideal time frame to review instead. Such was the perks of bearing a surname at the bottom of the list among others._

_Within a span of ten minutes, Mizuki eventually reached the end of the roster. "Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino, the last three of you are up."_

* * *

Karin abruptly woke up from the middle of her peaceful slumber. No longer within the good graces that would be sleep, her ruby-lit eyes slowly fluttered open only to be greeted with the vibrant color of red. She let out a lazy yawn, which ended up more muffled than intended, as her sleepy mind reluctantly pieced itself back together again. Hell, even breathing ended up to be more akin to that of a chore. Karin blinked once, then twice, before finally remembering just what she got herself into. Mostly. She found herself extremely close to a solid, warm object wearing something red and soft: the boy.

She remembered that she had decided to be a little selfish with the warm-natured chakra by simply sleeping right by the source. It was just completely irresistible, and she highly doubt she could snag another opportunity as good as the one she got. Why yes, he was a stranger and she had never, in the short nine years of her entire life, seen the boy around Kusa before, but it didn't matter. The Kusa gate guards obviously recognized him if they were waiting for him to come back, so that was good enough for her. If anything, she was bound to get to know him sooner or later. Besides, he couldn't be that much younger or older than herself, and he looked relatively harmless with him asleep like that. Well, mostly harmless. But either way, she was sure she could handle herself well.

Karin tensed in surprise as two arms gently but securely wrapped themselves around her delicate neck, but she forced herself to relax and remain calm. The majority of her morals and common sense were shot out the window when a light blush glazed her cheeks as she snuggled more comfortably in his embrace. She didn't care. The chakra rolling off the golden child felt great and she didn't exactly have the luxury for hugs anyway. _Mm... I could definitely get used to this. As long as he doesn't try anything funny._

An audible sniff reluctantly drew Karin from her world of comfort as she slowly tilted her head up, her gaze now closely observing the still-sleeping features of the boy's face. _Did he just... smell me?_ The thought slightly embarrassed her, but she was entirely grateful that she had washed up before working with her technique at home. Regardless, being sniffed by a complete stranger was quite unnerving, even for herself.

As if things couldn't get more weird, Karin became the target of yet another odd action, but this time by something very uncomfortable. A very warm and wet presence slowly slid across her forehead right above the brows, leaving a very red and wide-eyed Karin struggling frantically in the golden child's arms.

_E-e-ewww! H-he licked me! He just licked me!_ her mind reverberated as she attempted to worm her way out of his grasp. Unfortunately, her arms were tightly pressed against the boy's chest, preventing her from simply pushing him away to give her space. Additionally, her squeals of displeasure were partially muffled in the red shirt that her mouth was somewhat planted against. Karin certainly wasn't in the most ideal scenario. The blond-haired boy in response made a disapproving expression as his embrace tightened, yet still not awake.

His face caved in closer to Karin's own, capturing the many silky bangs of her bright red hair in his mouth as if her were eating it. It was then that the damsel in distress finally gathered the strength to press the boy's chest back away from her face, ultimately halting him from continuing to chew on her precious hair and granting her arms their mobility back. She took advantage of that window of opportunity to deliver a powerful and resounding slap across his cheek—forcing him to wince in pain and loosen the death grip on her—as Karin forcibly pushed the boy as far away from her as possible. It was then that the boy finally awoke from his slumbering trance.

* * *

Naruto groaned painfully as he tenderly rubbed his reddened cheek, quickly shaking off the many tendrils of drowsiness within his system. _What the hell was that?_

The rippling sensation of a hundred needles pricking the surface of his right cheek caused him to search for its instigator from his seated position. As he raised his gaze, a girl with red eyes and matching scarlet hair came into view from the tall grass. She sat no more than six feet away from him, allowing his eyes to slowly travel and evaluate her being. _She's beautiful_, he thought to himself as he quickly found himself captivated by her flowing locks of vibrant red, a slight tinge of pink slowly spreading across his face. The beige and black colors of her attire were quickly tuned out of his sight. For all he cared, only red and green existed.

"Oi! Just what the hell did you think you were doing, huh?!" the beige-clad girl shouted, her flustering face almost the same shade of color as her hair and eyes.

Naruto blinked at the sudden outburst before coming back to the good graces of reality. "I was taking a nap, had a pretty nice dream, and woke up with my cheek stinging..." he replied blandly, now sort of irritated that he had been interrupted from his rest and _stargazing_ session. "Why, is there something wrong with me sleeping in the grass?"

"No, but there is something wrong with licking people's foreheads and eating their hair!" she growled, directing an accusing finger straight at Naruto.

He simply narrowed his brows in confusion. "Uh, just_ what_ are you talking about?"

"_You_, idiot!" the girl quickly retorted.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know about you, or why you're angry with me, but I fell asleep, dreamed a bit and then I—" he abruptly paused. A few brief images flashed through his mind that he recognized from his most recent dream, mainly of the mysterious red object. The details were scattered in the wind, but from what he could catch in the breezes of his mind, the girl being that red object in the dream sort of fit if her story were true. Now, if that were so, it left a pretty big question in mind. "Wait... were you really close to me before everything you said _supposedly_ happened?" he asked suspiciously.

She flinched slightly and her eyes averted away from his own, but quickly returned them. He got her red-handed. "Y-yeah, I was..." she hesitantly replied before quickly adding in, "but what do you mean _supposedly_? You really _did_ do all that to me!"

"Great," Naruto mumbled irritably, but the hue of his face betrayed his tone. He really couldn't think on how to properly apologize to her. No use in getting embarrassed over something you weren't even remotely aware of. "If I really did all that you said I did... then, well... I'm sorry for all of that."

The girl crossed her arms. "Oh, so you think you're going to get off that easily? Far from it."

"Come _on_, I said I was sorry! I wasn't even awake for crying out loud!" Naruto pleaded.

"You really expect me to let you off with a slap on the wrists?"

He began to grumble to himself, wondering just how he could redeem himself; he didn't want any problems with this girl, the first of his possible _peers_ that he officially met. So after some contemplation, he decided to say the only thing that came to mind.

"Fine... how about I owe you... a favor for your forgiveness?" he hopefully asked, albeit strained. Naruto wasn't sure if it really was a good idea to do this, but the last thing he needed were people holding grudges against him. Not only that, but it certainly wouldn't do him any good to make the first person he met in Kusa hate his guts. Didn't most people make friends well before they made enemies?

The offer piqued the girl's interest. "A favor you say?" Naruto nodded. "So... I can just about ask for anything I want?" she asked, a mischievous glint present in her ruby eyes.

"As long as it's possible for me to do... then yeah, I guess," he sighed. He had just dug himself his own grave as far as he knew. There was just no telling of what she would have him do.

She gave it some thought, but found it rather difficult to come up with anything meaningful or beneficial to her on the spot. "Hm, I don't know... I'll just figure that out later!" She gave Naruto her own grin. "I'll accept the favor, but you won't be forgiven until then."

He merely sighed in defeat. _It's a start... I just hope it isn't too bad..._

"Since I'll be holding you to it, mind telling me your name?"

Naruto mentally slapped himself. _That's right, how can I pay back a favor if we don't even know each other's names?_

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and you are...?" He let the question linger in the air all by itself but was, unfortunately, only answered by silence. Naruto took in the beige-clad girl's surprised expression as a frown started to form on his face. "What? Did I say something funny?"

She simply stared back into his azure eyes, her look of shock not faltering for a moment. "...what did you say your name was, again?"

Naruto's brow twitched in annoyance. "So, you didn't hear me the first time?"

The girl shook her head. "N-no... I'm just not sure if I... heard it right."

"It's U—zu—ma—ki Na—ru—to," he started, enunciating every syllable slowly. "Did you get it that ti—_oof_!" The red and gold child found himself tackled roughly to the ground, his back splayed over the tall grass with his chest cavity being crushed by an intense amount of pressure. "Oi...! What's... the... big idea?" he managed between heaving breaths.

The girl who was once six feet away from Naruto was now glued onto his chest, trapping him in a bone-crushing embrace. His red shirt quickly began to feel moist as he struggled to lift himself back into a seating position. It took but a moment to realize the reason of why his shirt was getting wet: she was crying her heart out. But for _what_?

"Hey... are you... okay?" Naruto meekly questioned, absolutely unsure why the girl was weeping in the first place. He just hoped he didn't say anything wrong, if that's what it was all about. _Nice job Naruto, now just how are you going to tell sensei about how the whole 'making friends with your peers' _really _worked out for you?_ he silently contemplated. As he finished the thought, a few murmurs escaped the girl and into his chest.

"I'm not alone... I'm not alone," she managed to say in between her choked sobs, although they were somewhat muffled with her face in his shirt.

A small part of him was tempted to cry alongside the girl, for reasons unknown to his mind but all too knowing at heart. For that, a second and unfamiliar pain erupted within his chest while tears began to slowly, but gradually build up. Sympathy, perhaps? No. While akin to that sort of emotion, it was something else. But regardless, he resisted its urge and bit back the tears.

With the limited freedom of his arms and hands, he instinctively held her, returning the hug without the back-breaking element that she held on him. Naruto was mainly unsure of what exactly was going on, but he decided to do his best to comfort the red-haired beauty in his arms. He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to offering a hand of comfort, but it was the least he could do rather than do nothing. And maybe, just maybe, she'd loosen up that death grip of hers in the process. It was really becoming a chore to speak, let alone breathe.

Naruto rested his chin lightly upon the girl's head, stroking her back in reassurance. Or at least, as much as his arms could do. "It's going... to be... alright... Don't worry... I'm here."

* * *

One figure watched an affectionate exchange composed by two Konoha Chūnin from the shadows in the distance, intelligently obscured by the leaves and branches it hid in: the perverse giggle-fit, Jiraiya.

Or, that's the mess he would be if he wasn't taking the observation of the _secret_ couple so seriously.

This peeping session in particular, along with the previous one hours before, was quite unlike the several hundred others he had taken before. In just about every case up until recently, he'd sport the lecherous grin he was widely known for as a trickle or stream of blood would eject itself from his nostrils, depending on how good of a view he had. In several sessions, he'd snicker perversely at his scenes all the while scribbling notes and small drawings in his carry-on journals. They contained all of his _research_ as he called it, along with the collective experiences of his interactions with women. In a way, it was almost like a diary, with Jiraiya's life mostly led on a leash by perversion alone.

Not this time. While he did give into his perverted tendencies today, not once did he grin the slightest, nor did a single ounce of blood escape his nasal cavities. He did not giggle. He did not ferociously jot down notes and doodles as fast as his fingers could take him. He did not black out from his excellent view. But most of all, he didn't get caught.

Jiraiya calmly began writing in a small leather-bound journal, its front cover engraved with the number 'three' with a gold-like fill, as he continued to carefully observe the couple's interactions with each other. Love in secrecy was something he didn't run into often, let alone experience on a personal level, but it was something that he needed to include in the upcoming third series of _Icha Icha_.

The _Tactics_ installment, he named it, would be designed to introduce the ins and outs in the system of passionate love; to raise the bar of graphic content for detail that the previous two installments couldn't manage before. In addition to the pleasurable aspect of reading, it would be a potential learning tool for many, unlike its predecessors. _Icha Icha Tactics_ would boast top-notch material to get the ball rolling for those tip-toeing around the subject, or begin popping cherries immediately for those stuck somewhere down the line.

That was the plan, at least, but Jiraiya was not one to give up. It was a complicated and rough process to compile everything together, but it was certainly not impossible. If he could pull through with it, the road to immortal fame and fortune would be in sight. That was just a bonus, though. He made ryō off of the one thing he enjoyed most in life: the subject of women. Jiraiya really couldn't ask for anything more.

Even long after the couple had departed from the spot they shared together, Jiraiya continued to write and draw from the lower reaches of the tree that he took temporary refuge in. The old geezer scratched out a few of the lines he previously made on the page and resumed his work. However, a voice from below broke his concentration and thought processes.

He had been discovered.

* * *

The two children held each other for just about an entire minute before the girl finally calmed down, undoing the vice-grip she held Naruto in. The only remnants of her sobbing were the sniffles she attempted to keep down, though she failed miserably. As he pushed her slightly back away from him, he couldn't help but notice the two wet fist-sized marks on his shirt.

"Feel better now?" Naruto gently probed as he used his thumb to wipe the final stream of tears away from her reddened and puffy cheeks. Tears didn't belong on that cute face of hers. His response came with a nod. "Okay, so how about your name?"

The beige-clad girl wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in Naruto's chest again and causing him to stiff up. Damn that felt weird; the hug wasn't bone-crushing like last time, but rather calm and warming. Naruto wasn't exactly sure if he could ever get used to such close or affectionate gestures. But instead of crying all over again, she mumbled a few incoherent words that half-escaped his ears. Naruto let out a sigh as he responded to her embrace; he understood that whatever she was dealing with must've been rough, but was it really that difficult to give your name?

"What was it? I can't really hear you if you're going to tell my shirt."

The girl turned her head to the side, half of her face still planted onto his chest but making her response much more audible. "Karin... Uzumaki Karin..." she murmured, but he heard it crystal clear this time. Man, he couldn't believe what his ears just picked up and now he was as stiff as a board. If breathing wasn't quite the involuntary function it just so happened to be, he'd probably forget how to do it.

"U-Uzumaki?" he stuttered out quietly. "Did... did I hear that right?" Out of sheer willpower, he brought his gaze down towards her face, awaiting a response to confirm or deny the shocking truth. She nodded.

Naruto's mind began to unwind. For nearly nine years, the surname Uzumaki held no real sentimental value or any relative importance in his life as far as he was concerned. In Konoha, the Uzumaki 'clan' was simply unheard of. When asked, the word _Uzumaki_ rung no bells. Nobody knew who, what or where they were. So nobody shared Naruto's heritage. It simply didn't exist.

It was just some bogus clan name to him, yet he decided to keep it on a whim because that was all he was left with. This was his identity. Something so real, yet so fake at the same time. An _enigma_. But even the greatest puzzles of life could be solved, because there was no real problem to begin with.

When Karin had confirmed his thoughts, she had confirmed_ himself_. He no longer bounced between what was real and what wasn't real anymore. Words were simply empty cups just waiting to be filled with the fluids of meaning. The word _Uzumaki_: now there was _some_ value in it—for the both of them—even if it were just trickles and droplets of meaning. A sliver of family plopped into their canteens, and did it taste delicious.

That took him well over the edge; he couldn't hold it in anymore. Eight years of denial; it was just too much for him to take all at once, so allowed the flood roll out of his eyes. Kami be damned if this were a tease. He let the swirling whirlpool of emotions override his entire body. Naruto felt more _alive_ than he ever did.

He laughed as well as he cried. He was sad, excited, happy and... _scared_. Naruto held Karin close and tight as if she were a fleeting dream about to disappear on a second's notice. He couldn't have that happen, he_ wouldn't_ let anyone or anything take her away from him. It didn't matter who it was—Kami, Jashin, or even the Shinigami itself—there would be no power in the world that could steal her away from him. Not after this revelation. He'd never live with himself if his only link to a real family disappeared.

Karin naturally responded to his gesture and smiled as a single tear rolled down her cheek. _Now he understands_. As for Naruto's thoughts, _she's definitely real_. A few stray tears plopped on the surface of Karin's cheeks, but she didn't care. Hell, Naruto made no real move to stop them. He just let them go about their own course, not caring where or when they would fall.

"It's funny... you know... of all the possible things... I never expected _this_," he laughed as his eyelids shut, tears still not ceasing their downpour. It was difficult to speak as he cried, laughed or did both at the same time, but Naruto forced himself to continue.

"The first person I meet when I come here... to start all over again... just happens to be a part of my family... A family that I thought for my entire life... never existed in the first place."

Through teary-eyes, he looked down on Karin's face and gave her his warmest smile. As for the whole 'making friends with your peers' deal, it couldn't get any better than it had.


	9. Kusagakure VIII: Unfamiliar Places

**Chapter 8: Unfamiliar Places**

* * *

_All three students sat up and walked over to the front, two of which received an uncomfortable amount of focus and attention as they turned to face their fellow classmates._

_Sasuke slightly flinched at the undesired gazes of the female portion of the class, settling with averting his own eyes to stare at the clock above the classroom. _Eleven twenty-five_, he mentally noted, _five more minutes until break_. Time was cruel in a way, as five minutes was quite a bit of time to pass._

_Naruto tingled with small waves of unpleasantry as a few eyes shifted towards his direction, most evoking senses of annoyance. He could even feel the scowls some of the on-lookers wore without giving it much thought. But once in a while, he could feel Sakura's jaded glare upon his figure, only for it to avert elsewhere. Noticing this, he quickly discovered that the wooden floor was really interesting to look at. Unfortunately, Naruto just could not, for the life of him, ignore that one powerful beam of attention directed solely at himself whenever it swept by him. A particular person next to him didn't make his situation feel any better than it was._

_Ino occasionally stole a few glances at Sasuke, completely disregarding the fact that Naruto stood in between her and the one she set her sights upon. The blond-haired boy, being the middle-man and unintended victim of the one-sided transfer of glances, found himself even more uncomfortable than before._

_"Alright you three, are you ready to start?" The two boys nodded in confirmation, followed momentarily by Ino who was abruptly drawn from her stargazing session. "Begin!"_

_Three separate pings rung through the class as the three held the Ram hand sign, each focusing on molding the chakra within their networks. A lingering silence fell upon the room while the students at the front held their concentration. However, it was momentarily broken by slight panting, then a low-sounding fizz._

_"Thirty-eight seconds, Yamanaka-san." Ino merely nodded as she slowly moved back to her seat, still panting as if she had just ran around the classroom a few times. Considering that the class average was so far around forty-three seconds, Ino didn't do so bad._

_Nearly a minute later, the silence was once again broken, this time by a resounding thud on the floor. Laying down with his gaze aimed at the ceiling, Sasuke slowly propped himself onto his elbows, struggling to sit up and get in a more comfortable position. Each of the indecisive girls fidgeted in their seats as they resisted the urge to pounce the exhausted Sasuke. Their conflicted hearts told them to come to the aid of the boy of their dreams, but their minds screamed otherwise._

_Rationality won as Mizuki leveled a warning glare towards the girls before jotting down Sasuke's time. "One minute and twenty-one seconds, Uchiha-san. Impressive."_

_In comparison to the rest of the class, Sasuke held the highest time, taking several seconds in lead to the second highest owned by Hyūga Hinata, a time of one minute and eight seconds. Mizuki was mildly impressed, as it meant that the onyx-eyed boy had begun unraveling his chakra coils at an earlier age. However, Sasuke wasn't the reason as to why the class continued to stare towards the front._

_The last one standing was none other than Naruto, hands still pressed together into the proper hand sign and eyes closed in concentration. A few of his fellow peers had their mouths open in moderate surprise, and as several more moments continued to sweep by, the rest of the class sat slack-jawed. Sasuke soon hopped on the bandwagon after situating himself from the floor, staring at Naruto in disbelief. _How… how can you have so much chakra?!

_By the one minute and forty second mark, a few small wisps of blue ribbons began to form and roll off Naruto's body to Mizuki's surprise and the classroom's confusion. Chakra usually didn't take a physical form unless copious amounts were released, and even then, for chakra to manifest from the network of a fresh academy student was nothing short of phenomenal. But it didn't stop there._

_Nearing the two minute mark, the blue wisps began to move at a quicker pace, this time taking the appearance of rings and encircling around Naruto's figure, almost as if he had his own orbit. While Naruto stood oblivious to the chakra, Mizuki gaped back wide-eyed at him. A few of the students were tempted to walk up and touch the rings of chakra, but decided to not under the guidance of better judgment. Naruto's evaluation was starting to look rather dangerous, if the light crackling noise emanating from the chakra was anything to go by, so Mizuki called out the only thing he could think of on the spot._

_"Uzumaki-san, I think you should stop now before you hurt yourself!"_

_The voice of the Chūnin instructor broke Naruto's deep concentration, resulting in the chakra harmlessly, but violently dissipating in small blasts as the crackling sounds died out. The boy merely took a deep breath as he stretched his arms out before letting it escape past his lips._

_"Did you say something, sensei?" Naruto questioned as he somewhat tiredly rubbed his eyes._

_"I was… a bit worried that you might hurt yourself, that's all." The boy merely shrugged, accepting the answer._

_"I'm just a little tired," Naruto replied before remembering something important. "Oh yeah, what was my time?"_

_"Two minutes and... six seconds... Uzumaki-san." The whiskered child nodded off the answer as he lazily walked back to his seat, unaware of the expressions of genuine surprise mixed with strands of disbelief directed towards him._

Jeez, this kid has outstanding reserves for his age. Most of my peers didn't even boast that capacity until graduation_, Mizuki thought as the student in question proceeded to rest his head down on the desk._

* * *

The toad sage growled in irritation, having lost his train of thought. "Just _perfect_. Here I was with a _brilliant i_dea in mind before you rudely—" He paused as his eyes traced over the figure down below before settling with a knowing smirk. "Well... if it isn't my greatest fan! A coincidence seeing you here, Kakashi. It's been... five years since I've last seen you, is that right?" Jiraiya hopped down from the branch he sat on, landing softly on the patch of grass in front of his devoted reader.

Kakashi nodded, still surprised to see his favorite author and idol back in the village after the sage's random disappearance. "Indeed it has. What brings you back here to Konoha?"

The aged coot flashed the one-eyed man a grin. "Ah, so word of the news haven't reached here yet?"

"No... I suppose it hasn't..." he replied and then suddenly added, "but wait, which news are you referring to?"

"Oh, there's more floating around? Well, the news I'm talking about is tied directly to my best-selling novels."

Kakashi gave it a small thought before answering back, "would it happen to be the awaited third series of your masterpieces?"

"Sort-of-kind-of," he shrugged. "It would be the reason as to why I'm here, but there's more to it!" Kakashi raised a brow at the response, wanting to know the whole story. "Have you heard of the huge project taking place in Kiba no Kuni?"

He shook his head. "No, the only news Konoha has received from them was the beginning of a growing tension between Kiba no Kuni and Tsume no Kuni. There's not much else about it as far as everyone else is concerned, but we may be expecting a treaty of alliance from one of them in the near future should it continue."

"Well then, you'll be the first to know around here," Jiraiya declared as he cleared his throat. "The Kiba no Kuni Daimyō is currently hosting and directing the production of, the one and only, _Icha Icha Violence_! Yes, you've heard it right: a _Daimyō _has taken the liberty to create the _first_ movie-adaption of my series! And, although I'm not supposed to be telling you this, it's going to come around in about two years."

Kakashi could hardly speak, but somewhere within the sputtering mess of himself, he had finally recovered his voice. "A-are... are you serious?!" The toad sage nodded; Kakashi quickly found himself downright speechless.

"I'm proud to say that I'm also endorsing the Daimyō on this project of his. It's going to be huge I tell you, _huge_!" he exclaimed, waving his hands outwards to emphasize his point.

"Just... just how much ryō are you contributing to it?"

Jiraiya folded his arms together. "Well, it _is _promoting my life's work and I do have devoted fans to please. So far, I've invested _fifteen million_ ryō on the project, and I've got a feeling that every single ryō was _very_ well spent; just imagine the_ royalties _I'll be receiving once the production is finished. It'll make my fifteen million look like a drop in the bucket if it's anything like what I originally produced."

The silver-haired man's only visible eye widened in absolute shock to the answer. "F-f-fifteen _million_?! And you just put all of your eggs in one basket?! I've probably only made about a fifth of that investment in my _lifetime_."

"The _Icha Icha_ series aren't ranked 'best-selling' for nothing, you know. To answer your question though, I kind of did spend most of my savings on it. However, I _do_ have a reputation to uphold, Kakashi, and in a way, it only makes sense that I would spend that much to support and promote _Icha Icha_," the sage scoffed.

"But how can you be so sure that it's going to pay off in the end?"

Jiraiya let out a guffaw. "Do you take me for a fool? If I were _Tsunade_-hime, then there would be no doubt it would be a total failure. But the times I trust my gut instinct, everything turns out for the better: it's part of the reason as to why _Icha Icha_ even exists to begin with."

"Point taken. Well, you did say you had a reason for coming here... so what was it?"

"So now that you know that there's a production of my series occurring, I've come back for _inspiration_ and _research_ for the third installment of the _Icha Icha_ series." While it was nice to know that the Icha Icha series were continuing, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder why Jiraiya had chose Konoha.

"Why not somewhere else?"

Jiraiya shook his head in amusement. "My boy, do you know what drove me to write _Icha Icha Violence_ in the first place?"

"Not exactly... mind telling me?" In truth, he sort of had an idea, but figured that it would be best if the author himself explained it.

"All the times I've had with Tsunade-hime, of course! And do you know where that all began? Right here, in _Konoha_. Since_ Icha Icha Violence _in particular is kicking off as the beginning of the movie-adaption series, I've come to the conclusion that somewhere in Konoha will be the source of inspiration for the third addition. It would be bound for success, I'm sure."

"What about the first one, _Icha Icha Paradise_?"

The old man waved it off. "That's just bits and pieces from here and there. Nowhere in particular for the most part; I was an amateur writer back then, traveling through the Elemental Nations and keeping up my network. There was no real focus or direction, but I corrected that with _Icha Icha Violence_. And, it seems I've made the right choice."

Noticing that he had spent way too much time talking about his side of the news, Jiraiya decided to probe Kakashi. "Anyway, I think I filled you in a little _too much _about the work I've done, so more on you. You did mention there were other news circulating around, so spill it."

Kakashi visibly flinched. He wasn't exactly sure how to explain what he wanted to tell him, but started anyway. "Do you remember... Minato-sensei's son?"

"Why of course, I'm the brat's godfather. But so far I've not been able to afford the luxury of time to watch over him with the spy network to maintain. Speaking of the kid, is he around here somewhere? I'm quite eager to see how much he's grown all these years. He hasn't got himself in trouble, has he?"

The man shamefully tore his gaze away from Jiraiya, not responding. His silent response prompted the old man to trade back an increasingly chilling stare.

"Kakashi... did something happen to Naruto?"

The man forced himself to choke out, "…I'm very sorry, Jiraiya-sama..."

"_Where_. _Is_. _He_?" Jiraiya questioned in a dangerously low tone. The toad sage wanted answers. _Now_.

Kakashi cautiously reached into his vest pocket, fumbling a particular book a few times before managing to shakily hand it to Jiraiya. He refused to meet his senior's eyes, knowing that what he was about to discover would not be taken well at all.

Jiraiya carefully eyed the hardcover being held out to him, his gaze hardening when he realized that what was held in front of him was the Bingo Book itself. _Is this some sort of sick joke?_ he pondered as he took the book from Kakashi's shaky hands.

As the old coot held the back cover of the Bingo Book, the front cover and first six pages naturally flipped over. It was the seventh page of the book, adorned with permanent wrinkles and creases on the lower half of the page, especially at the part where the pages were attached to the spine. It was made obvious to Jiraiya that Kakashi had kept the book open on this particular page many, many times.

That wasn't all that he had noticed. Jiraiya's steel gaze traveled the page, his eye catching the image of a rounded and whiskered face bearing oceanic eyes. Untamed, spiky blond hair shot out in all sorts of directions as the still face peered back at the old man with a neutral but empty gaze. He didn't think; he just shouted the first thing that came to mind for the entire village to hear.

**"WHAT THE FUCK?!"**

* * *

Naruto had never cried so many tears in his life. They weren't sad tears that he shed for the entire three minutes Karin held on—oh no, they were quite the contrary actually. In fact, Naruto had never felt more happy in his life. The actions that transpired from the moment they met leading up to the shocking revelation in the tall grass were pushed out of mind. Even if he were to somehow remember his part of the favor at any moment, Naruto probably wouldn't care just how deep he could dig that grave of his. At this point, he'd do just about anything for Karin. Pay for anything and everything she so desired? Brush her hair each and every day for the rest of his life? Done and done. As long that in the end, he'd spend and make up for lost time with his…

Well, she certainly couldn't have been his long lost sibling, let alone _twin_—they simply didn't look alike at all outside of sharing rounded faces. But even then, Karin's wasn't as round as Naruto's so it was pretty much a moot point among other things. She had the blood-red hair while he had the dirty golden locks; Naruto's enchanting cerulean spheres to Karin's captivating amaranth orbs. Could anyone hope to see the resemblance between them? Hardly.

They were definitely cousins—how distant, neither of them knew. But however far that may be, it was probably quite a stretch. If, for some reason, they chose not to establish the knowledge unto others that they were in fact related, no one would be the wiser. It was sad really, that they looked nothing alike for the most part, but there was always the blood running through their veins. Well, at least, they'd share a fraction of it together, and that was good enough, plus the surname, of course.

So two things happened the moment Karin had been graced with the sight of the blond boy's smile. The first being that Naruto's chakra had gotten _very_ comfortable to be in. If anything, she was weaving in and out of a trance; his signature bumped quite a margin warmer than it had been when she first lay down with him hours ago. How could she have not noticed such a change? He was so close, she could just about literally feel the waves of chakra rolling off his skin and onto hers. And_ damn _did that feel _good_.

The second thing that happened was that she began to caress the boy's back. For Naruto, the effect was immediate and the longer Karin continued, the more self-control he held over his sniffling. The feeling was foreign, yes, but since it was Karin, he let it slide.

"I understand how you feel, Naruto-kun… I understand," she whispered softly as her fingers traced imaginary lines over the surface of his spine.

A few silent moments swept past while Naruto stifled the rest of his sobbing. It wasn't until now that Karin had taken awareness to the time of day; sunset was approaching, and that means dusk would follow not too long after. Time sure was a killjoy.

"It's going to be getting late, Naruto-kun. We should start heading back." She proceeded to sit up but was promptly stopped by a pair of arms holding her back down.

Naruto shook his head at her suggestion. "No. Stay here… just a little longer, please." His voice was soft and equally as pleading. Karin peered into his eyes and discovered traces of… desperation. Now she definitely didn't have the heart to say 'no' to him.

Karin smiled at him before bringing her arms around Naruto's form. "Okay… we'll stay for a bit."

"Thank you... Karin-chan."

* * *

Several minutes continued to roll by as the two children held each other comfortably under the tree. By the time Naruto was fine with heading back to the village, the sun loomed just over the horizon. The sky turned into mixes of orange and purple while the shadows cast by the looming tree started to stretch over the hill. It wasn't exactly dark yet, but it would be within the hour.

Naruto and Karin steadily hobbled back to the main gate, not allowing any silence come in between them along the way. Because his cousin was native to Kusa, she ended up talking more about herself than he did. Then again, there wasn't exactly much to like or talk about Konoha to begin with—there was a reason why he left. Regardless, they continued to talk even after signing back in at the gate. Instead of greeting Midori, they instead met up with Shiba, making it clear that the two guards alternated between day and night shifts.

Time seemed to slow down while Naruto approached a very unfamiliar structure. Speaking of which, everything around him was quite unfamiliar. He did not recall his building of residence to be several stories high nor did he remember seeing large vines entangling the sides of its walls. The other buildings adjacent to it also didn't spark any memories in mind.

There was a reason why nothing looked familiar. It wasn't exactly that he was in a different district of Kusa; rather, it was because when he left after lunch with Mizuki, he paid absolutely no attention to where he was going. He had wandered aimlessly through the village in hopes that he could find a way leading to the outside, and by dumb luck, he did. Unfortunately, this meant that he couldn't find his way back to his residential quarters, much to his dismay. If only he had paid attention.

From the look of the exterior, it resembled the clan compounds that he used to pass by in Konoha, though the central buildings were never as tall as the ones before him. If he didn't know any better, he'd be convinced that it was a castle belonging to a daimyō. If this is where Karin lived, then he had absolutely no idea as to how she paid rent for a place like this. Surely, the price had to be atrocious, right?

Once they reached the entrance to the compound look-alike, Karin turned around to face Naruto. "Well, I have to get going now. Promise you'll be around tomorrow?"

"Uh, Karin-chan?" Naruto meekly called as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"Hm? Is there something wrong, Naruto-kun?" She tilted her head slightly off to the side in curiosity.

"Yeah... actually there is," he replied nervously, "but I'm not exactly sure how to explain this..."

Karin's face immediately fell as her chest tightened up. "You don't mean... you can't see me tomorrow, is it?" Her eyes slowly began to water, praying to Kami that wasn't the case.

Naruto went into a panic as he noticed her eyes become quite watery. "No, no! That's not it! I can _definitely_ see you tomorrow, _promise_!" Karin immediately lightened up at the response while the tears threatening to spill out receded back into their ducts. She let out a sigh of relief before Naruto continued to explain himself.

"It's just that, I kind of..." he gulped before continuing, "I don't remember where I was staying at..." Naruto's face reddened in embarrassment as Karin broke into a fit of laughter at his misfortune. _Yeah yeah, just let it out..._

"You really don't know your way around here, do you?" she stated more than asked, stifling a few giggles. Naruto let out a sigh before shaking his head. Noticing his dilemma, she took a moment to think before an idea quickly came around the corner. "Oh! You don't need to worry about anything, you can stay with me tonight."

Naruto wasn't exactly convinced, but felt that it wouldn't hurt to make sure. "Really? Are you sure it's okay?"

She merely scoffed and waved off his concern. "Of course, silly! There's plenty of space in my room anyway. Let's go!" Before Naruto could respond or thank her, she had already taken off, pulling his arm along the entire way.

* * *

Karin had literally dragged Naruto from the steps of the entrance arch and into one of the large three -story complexes veering off to the left. To say that Naruto was amazed was barely scratching the surface of what he really thought about the place. For one, he had never exactly stepped into any complex other than his small apartment, the Hokage's Tower and its Academy back in Konoha. So to see that Karin's living arrangement was incredibly vast and even had a second floor to boot really swept his feet off the floor. He definitely needed to ask her how she even got a place like this in the first place. But whatever the case, Karin lived much more comfortably than he did. That much he was sure.

The interior was quite simplistic, actually. While the outside was adorned with the pleasant sight of lush and wildflowers, the inside was quite the opposite. For the most part, there weren't any decorations lining the walls as he thought there would be. No, it was just bland. The floor and beams were made of your run of the mill, standard issue wood and whatever wasn't wood was just white. White walls and a brown wooden floor. But overall, the design was quite intuitive.

The hallways were spacious enough so that four or five people could comfortably stand side-by-side with one another; the ceiling of the first floor wasn't too high or too low, and several doors lined the corridor. It was sort of like the apartment that Naruto resided in, but this complex wasn't cramped for space. Far from it, actually. Oh, and he couldn't argue that the place was nearly spotless, much to his surprise.

The two had passed up every single door in the corridor up to the sixth one on the right labelled '1-6B', just before the fork; the left and right led to stairs to the second floor while forward extended the hallway further, effectively doubling the number of rooms on the first floor. In a way, Naruto was drawn to the conclusion that this was in fact sort of like an apartment complex, but then again, it just _wasn't_ at the same time.

The door wasn't even locked seeing as how Karin simply twisted the knob for entry. Naruto seemed to show a bit of concern about that seemingly little mistake of hers, something he learned the hard way a few years back. But he was in no position to tell her that it was important to lock up every time she left somewhere; she could easily scold him about not remembering where he was staying at, which was just as bad. Besides, he was a guest and she okay'd his entry. He definitely couldn't complain at all.

"Well, here we are! Try not to mess with the stuff on the desk, okay?" Karin mentioned as she walked into her humble abode followed by Naruto, but he quickly found himself looking at everything around him, desk included.

In contrast, Karin was very organized with her belongings. Other than the random assortment of papers and writing utensils on the top of the desk, nothing looked out of place. The small, triple-tiered bookshelf that her desk was attached to was lined with a multitude of books—literature, textbooks and all. Not only that, but Karin seemed to have even made a small cubicle exclusively for scrolls on the bottom tier towards the right. Only she knew what was contained in those parchments.

Looking more towards the left, he could see that her bed had one set of lavender sheets and two pillows bearing white pillowcases. Right above it was the window, which was not surprisingly open given the unlocked door. Regardless, that meant fresh air whenever she desired. Near the sill was Karin's dresser, but it was closed so he couldn't exactly tell what was in there. Sure, there might be just clothes, but one never knew for sure.

"Oi, Naruto-kun! You okay there?" Karin probed, waving her hand in front of his face to determine if he was spacing out of not.

"Er—what? Oh, yeah, I am. I just never seen a girl's room, that's all."

"Oh, I see. Just wondering." She shrugged and went about her business with the papers on the desk.

"I do have to ask one thing, though."

Karin turned her head slightly towards Naruto's direction. "What would that be?"

"...where do I sleep?"

"Well..." Karin did not think ahead for something like this. No, she didn't have a spare futon since they were unnecessary to have under normal circumstances, and Kami be damned because she only had a single set of sheets to work with. It wasn't like she had guests spend the night in her room all of the time. So, she decided to chance it. "We could... share the bed. I don't mind, really."

And truthfully, she really wouldn't mind sharing the bed with Naruto. To sum it up, that would mean yet another opportunity to relax in his aura of chakra.

"I-Is that really a good idea?" Naruto sputtered, unable to decide if he really wanted to or not.

_It's a _very_ good idea_, her mind screamed, but decided to keep that for herself instead of saying it out loud. "There's always the floor, or outside," she quipped.

"Don't you have another blanket or something?" Karin shook her head while Naruto just gave her a pout. "...fine," he huffed.

"So that's settled then! Ready for b—" A rude grumbling of a stomach cut her off mid-sentence.

Naruto rubbed his belly in mild discomfort. "Eh... sorry, I haven't eaten since lunch." _And all I had for lunch was ramen... and a few strawberries..._

"Oh, why didn't you say so?"

"Wasn't thinking about it until now... but anyway, is there somewhere where I can get something to eat?"

She waved it off. "Ah, don't worry about it. I'll get you something, just stay put alright?"

Naruto's face brightened at the notion. "Really? You can do that?"

"I sure can. I'll be back in a bit, just wait."

Just before the beige-clad girl sped off elsewhere, Naruto quickly called back for her. "Oh, wait! Karin-chan!"

Karin quickly spun around, just right before she left the room. "Hm?"

"Thank you... for everything!"

* * *

Kiba no Kuni: _Land of Fangs_

Tsume no Kuni: _Land of Claws_


	10. Kusagakure IX: Morning Birds

**Chapter 9: Morning Birds**

* * *

Jiraiya, world class pervert and renowned master of the sage arts, was pissed. No, that was quite the understatement; he was absolutely infuriated and irate beyond all recognition. The atrocious scowl painted upon his face screamed bloody murder and the veins of his arms bulged in rage. He had come back to the village after a long, five-year departure only to be greeted with news that his innocent godson made it into the pages of the Bingo Book—Konoha's Bingo Book to be specific.

Now this wouldn't be an issue given that it meant a shinobi was acknowledged as a dangerous opponent, but Jiraiya found it wrong on so many levels. Naruto was only eight years old, going on nine in the coming few months, and fresh out of the Academy. His page landed on the S-rank section when not even the boy's status as a jinchūriki could warrant or justify him as a dangerous target—he only had the Academy techniques in his arsenal. Most importantly, he had a bounty going on for him, by his own village. Not Kiri, not Kumo, not even dreaded Iwa... just Konoha. What made matters worse was that the bounty of most Jōnin hopefuls paled in comparison to Naruto's.

It was of no surprise when the enraged pervert burst through the fragile window of Hiruzen's office, nearly taking the stone frames down upon arrival. Shrapnel of glass violently pelted the surface of the desk rather than the back of the Hokage, who had quickly prepared a Kawarimi before the destructive entry. Hiruzen had been expecting his student to stop by the moment he made himself known to the entire village, though he hadn't exactly prepared himself to approach him so soon.

"Just what the hell were you thinking? Have you gone _mad_, sensei?!" Jiraiya angrily shouted across the room. The Hokage quickly recollected himself before the stationed ANBU could intervene at his student's outburst. With a single gesture of a hand, they were all dismissed, leaving Hiruzen alone with Jiraiya on opposite sides of the room.

"Jiraiya, stop! Let me explain—"

"You have no excuse to fall back on old man, because right now, my godson is on this_ filthy piece of trash_!" The toad sage promptly hurled Kakashi's Bingo Book with incredible force towards Hiruzen's direction, who reactively ducked to avoid the lethal projectile. The book violently snapped at the spine upon impact of the wall, forcing dozens of its pages to scatter around the room. "With a bounty going for him—by _Konoha_ at that!"

"Jiraiya, we want Naruto _alive_, not dead!"

"And your solution is to stick him onto the Bingo Book? Well, isn't that just _perfect_, because everyone will be _sure_ to read the fine details," Jiraiya scoffed. "Did you even think this through?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Now, as I've told just about every single person that has approached me on the matter: if you can think of a more logical method to circumvent the issue—without jeopardizing the village in the process—then by all means, tell me." The Hokage crossed his arms, his unfaltering gaze focused on the form of his student. "_I'm waiting_."

"That is _your _job, _not mine._ But as it is, it's preposterous that you came to such a solution to fall back on! You're ready and willing to place your trust in your forces to bring him back alive, when all they really see is a huge bounty going for him?"

"Of course. I have great confidence and place my faith in their abilities to bring him back safely, more so in particular with the ANBU. I thought you knew how they worked."

Jiraiya growled at that, fists still balled up in anger. "I still don't like this old man, you just better hope this doesn't come and bite you back in the ass because of your decision." The toad sage turned around and hopped onto the frame of the stone sill.

Hiruzen narrowed his gaze at that. "Where do you think you're going?"

Jiraiya glared back at the Hokage. "To fulfill the final orders of the Yondaime Hokage—to ensure the well-being of his only son. I am a shinobi of Konoha before I am Jiraiya, sensei. I intend to get to him first before anyone screws it all up." Jiraiya didn't even spare a second glance before leaping a great distance away from the office. The glassy mess made upon his entry was now up to the Hokage to clean up, along with other matters.

Hiruzen continued to remain where he stood, growing roots as he rubbed his temples in anticipation of the impending headache to follow.

* * *

Yesterday afternoon and night were one of the most radical, life-changing events in Naruto's short eight-year life. It certainly wasn't every day that you coincidentally bumped into a distant relative of yours, especially when there were miniscule, if any, traces of your heritage. He was eternally grateful to whatever deity alligned the stars for him.

For what it was worth, Karin was quite the eye-catcher and there was no doubt she'd grow into a beautiful woman in the next several years. However, he figured that it didn't take a genius to realize that. Personality-wise, he wasn't exactly sure since there wasn't much to go around; he'd need much more than one day to figure that out for himself. The only thing he was sure of was that Karin didn't tolerate stupidity all too nicely. Unfortunately, his problem was trying to figure out what he was doing wrong. But other than that—so far, so good.

That night, Karin had brought back a single bento loaded with an assortment of food. Even though it wasn't all that big, it had just about a bit of everything. From tonkatsu to sushi, and yakisoba to plain rice. Just where she got it, he didn't care—Naruto's only real concern was that Karin only brought back one bento. And because Karin also didn't eat anything since lunch that day, they were going to have to share that one box between themselves. It had well over enough to feed one mouth, but it didn't exactly have enough for two. At least it would quiet and ease the hunger pangs for the time being until it was time to sleep.

After a bit of thinking, Naruto had decided to take the gentleman's role and offer to take the lesser half of the food, being the guest in her humble abode and as a way to appreciate her bringing him food to begin with. Yet, even though Karin had every right to take more than he deserved, she had insisted that he eat the greater half of the bento. Her reasoning was that Naruto was a growing boy and girls like her didn't eat as much as they did. Yet, anyway.

Naruto was still not convinced, but he quickly changed his mind after being threatened with going to bed without dinner. In the end, he reluctantly took the greater half of the food while Karin ate the rest. He couldn't help but feel a strong tinge of guilt that night; she had done so much for him all in a span of a few hours, but and what had he done for her? Well... nothing, really. But one of these days, he was going to make it all up to her. Big time.

So when Naruto had woken up to a roaring belly in the following morning, he was not too surprised. He had went to bed not even eating an entire meal, so it was expected. But he couldn't complain, and he had Karin to thank for the most part. He could've woken up to a very pissed off stomach had he continued to argue with her, and for that he was entirely grateful that he hadn't.

Other than his stomach, there was another problem. For one, he could not, for the life of him, move or feel his right arm. With every ounce of willpower, he attempted to move it but failed horribly. Instead of continuing his futile efforts, he glanced over the lavender sheets only to discover its culprit—Karin. More specifically, her head.

She had taken the liberty to cut off just about all circulation to his arm for Kami knows how long. She was fast asleep, not even one bit aware that she was slowly 'killing' his arm. Karin also had her own arms laced firmly around his torso, putting the two of them really close to each other.

_How ironic_, he mused as he peered over Karin's sleeping form. Her nose nuzzled softly over his chest as a content smile curled over her lips.

He had to admit though, she looked quite cute when she was asleep and he couldn't help but smile as well. But there was no time to admire how cute his sleeping cousin looked like when his right arm was numb like no tomorrow. It demanded freedom.

"Karin-chan, you awake?"

She shifted a bit in the confines of the sheets. "Mm...?"

"Could you not use my shoulder as a pillow?" He waited patiently for his answer, seeing as how Karin wasn't responding right away. Although his arm was quite numb, it felt uncomfortably hot. He preferred the needle-like prickling sensation over this in any case.

"You'll live..." she murmured. Her intentions were clear—she was _not_ going to move from her spot any time soon.

"But I need to get up," Naruto protested as he used his other hand to lightly nudge Karin's shoulder. Other than her light breathing, there was no response. He decided to sit upright but quickly discovered that doing so was not a choice he could make for himself.

"_Mmm_!" Karin angrily grumbled, tightening her hold on his body and forcibly pinning down his shoulder with the side of her head.

Naruto let out a sigh of defeat; unless he were to drag her out of the bed himself, he wouldn't be getting anywhere. But chances are, he'd be dragged back into the bed if her grip was anything to go by. "Please let go," he pleaded.

"Five more minutes..."

He rolled his eyes at the response. _Definitely not a morning person_.

Several minutes rolled by as Naruto stared straight at the ceiling, the most he could do to distract himself from the sensations of his suffocating limb. He'd take a few glaces at Karin every now and then in case she decided to get up. While Naruto was alone in his thoughts, he had considered licking her forehead—on his own free will this time—to free his now-burning arm, since she seemed to not like that at all according to her reaction from yesterday.

But as good of an idea that would be, he thought better of it, not wanting a painful slap on the cheek a second time. One time was good enough and he was not looking forward to the pending second, not if he could avoid it. Besides, with a crippled right arm, he was the equivalent of a stringless marionette.

Not too long after the thought came up, Karin had stirred from her slumber. She blinked a few times before allowing them to shut tightly to the invasive brightness in the room; if only she had shut the blinds of the window a bit, the sunlight pouring through them wouldn't have been such a pest.

"Oh good, you're up! Now I can finally have my arm back."

"Mm..." Karin groggily mumbled as she turned her body upright, now in a seated position more or less. Naruto took this as his queue to escape.

"Time to—gah!" Naruto had crashed down onto the hard wooden floor the moment he tried to lift himself out, completely forgetting that one of his arms was practically disabled for the time being. His sprawled-out form had his right cheek planted right on the ground; there was no doubt he'd have a bruise later on throughout the rest of the day, a temporary reminder of his impatience.

Karin peered over the side of the bed at the sound of Naruto's misfortune. "Oi... you okay there?"

"Ouch..." Naruto groaned as he attempted to lift himself off the floor with his left hand before turning his attention to Karin. "And of course not, I can't even move or feel my arm!" He shot her an accusing glare, but she paid no mind to it. Her brain was half-asleep, so she could care less for the most part.

"Oh."

He started to grumble utter nonsense as he stood up, though they came to a halt once the wave of hunger pangs shot through his belly. Naruto cupped his only mobile arm around his stomach in a meager attempt to relax it. "Oh uh, Karin-chan? You know the food you got us last night? Where did you get it? I'm real hungry right now."

"You can't go by yourself," she responded whilst rubbing her eyes.

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "Eh? Why not?"

"Oh yeah... I forgot to tell you earlier."

"And that was...?"

She let out a drawn-out sigh, massaging her temples at the same time. "We're at the academy grounds—residential quarters—to be specific."

On news of that, Naruto couldn't help but stare back at his cousin in amazement. If he wasn't envious in the least, he'd be lying to himself. _Wow, this is part of the academy? Cool! And Karin-chan lives here? Not even Konoha's Academy had something like this. I wonder why..._

He quickly snapped out of his daze as another wave of grinding pain shot through his system. "So...? What does that have to do with getting the food?"

"Idiot... haven't you figured it out yet?" Naruto shook his head, provoking a sigh to escape her breath. "What I'm saying is that you can't get any food here unless you're a student at the academy."

"What?!" he practically shouted. The displeasure in his response was quite evident if the volume was anything to go by.

"Naruto... not so loud, I just woke up." Karin had her head bent down to meet the palms of her hand. A headache in the morning was never a good thing. "Anyway, that's why I said, 'you can't go by yourself.' You need to wait for me to get it."

"Oh, I see... well then, let's hurry up and go!" he beamed, the prospect of sating his hunger driving his motivation.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Naruto gave her a pout as she rolled off the side of the bed. Karin lazily dragged herself to her dresser at an atrociously slow pace—way too slow for Naruto's liking. His stomach angrily thrashed about, eliciting more waves of painful hunger pangs.

"Come on, come on! I'm like dying here!"

* * *

Nearly two agonizing hours later, Karin brought back one bento, just like last night. This time however, Naruto didn't care what was inside and eagerly scarfed half of the food down as quick as he could. When one was really hungry, food tasted very good. Naruto could attest to that statement.

"Slow down Naruto-kun, the food isn't going anywhere."

He didn't let down his ravenous harvest, making everything he attempted to say completely unintelligible.

"...and you might want to not stuff your face when you're trying to speak," Karin added as she let out an exasperated sigh.

Naruto gulped down the mass of food occupying his mouth. "I was just saying that I was hungry."

"Figures. Anyway, you said you were going to attend the academy, right?"

"Yeah, in two days."

"So... how do you feel about it?"

Naruto stopped eating as he pondered the thought. "I don't know really. Never took the time to think about it, I guess."

"Don't you feel excited or anything?"

He shrugged. "A bit, and... not really. Well, I mean... it's not the first time I've been enrolled in one."

"Oh, so you've already been to another academy somewhere else?"

"Yeah, but I guess the right way of putting it would be that I'm transferring here. I guess until you mentioned that we're actually at the academy here, I didn't look forward to coming. It's all so... different."

"Like how exactly?"

"The academy here is _huge_! I thought this was like a clan compound or something. And it definitely didn't have living space for the students, that's for sure."

"I see..." The room went silent for a moment as Karin plunged into her thoughts. Naruto continued eating, this time at a leisurely pace. If he transferred from a small academy, then likewise, he must have come from a small and probably foreign village. Or, it was a civilian-based institution. It only made sense to her that way.

"If you don't mind me asking, where was the academy you went to before coming here?"

"Konoha's Ninja Academy," he plainly said.

Karin found herself bewildered at his answer. "K-Konoha?" _No way! Why would a ninja academy over there be small? Isn't Konoha one of the Elemental Nations?!_ She couldn't wrap her mind around the thought.

He nodded. "Boring, nothing special. It's like they try to hold back everyone a few years or something. Yeah, you learn a thing or two, but then you review them for months. At the speed we were learning at, there was no way anyone could graduate early, so I ended up having to bug sensei about learning new things. Didn't work the first few times, though."

Karin averted her gaze to the now nearly-empty bento between them, the gears in her mind spinning wildly to understand the prospect. From what Naruto told her, it all pointed to the idea that prospective Konoha shinobi and kunoichi simply did not take their education and training seriously. It all seemed so vain and... surreal. Regardless, it certainly was an eye-opener.

"Sort of like... an independent study, huh?"

"Uh... I guess you could say that. It did make me wonder how some people were able to become Genin so early." Naruto looked down, giving a slight pause before scoffing at his reply. "Then again, most of them belonged to a clan, so they all probably got help really easy." He unconsciously tightened his grip around the wooden utensil in his hand.

Sensing the rising tension spilling into her room, Karin decided it best to quickly change the subject. "Oh! Naruto-kun, since we're done, how about we go walk around a bit? We need to find out where you were staying at, right?" She proceeded to gather up everything that came with the bento and rose to her feet.

Naruto, who was lost in the depths of his mind, snapped out of his trance to her shifting movements. "Huh? Oh, that's right. I almost forgot about that!" His movements followed swiftly after Karin's own.

Karin flashed a sincere smile in his direction, inwardly relieved that he wasn't eating at himself inside. She settled the bento on top of her desk to take back later, but not before grabbing the keys.

* * *

For a titanic academy, the grounds were surprisingly almost devoid of life. It was quiet except for the chirping birds, the light breeze brushing over ears and the scuffling of two pairs of shoes on the stone pathways. Naruto and Karin leisurely walked side-by-side, engaged in small conversation to learn about one another to pass the time.

Every now and then, Naruto would take a good look around himself, mostly at the structures that defined the academy. As opposed to yesterday, his sights were not muddled by the lack of decent sunlight; this time he was in broad daylight. Although the buildings were, for the most part, clean, they certainly looked like they had seen better days. The structure that towered over the rest however, seemed to emit an impressive display of power and oddly, of regality. He assumed that's where most of the classrooms were stationed, as weird as he thought of it.

Karin on the other hand would sometimes absently point in the general direction of a building before following up with a simple explanation of its purpose; Naruto would look, listen and nod in acknowledgement. That was another thing about her: Karin was resourceful and efficient. It didn't matter if she were managing time or in this case, multiple tasks; she could do it. Besides, it would save her a second round of the 'I'm lost' scenarios with Naruto in the long run.

The first signs of life manifested when the academy entrance arch came into view not too far from their approach. Leaning on the side of the arch stood a girl around the same age as the two, more or less, arms crossed and dressed in a simple black outfit. Her long, red hair nearly reached the small of her back while a lone, tress of hair rested above the bridge of her nose. The deep-set eyes she possessed gifted her with a fierce appearance and, rather than mar her facial features, the scowl only amplified the ferocity of her sharp look. She did not look like a girl who would frolic in a sea of gossip or pride herself through cosmetics.

Naruto and Karin, too engaged in conversing with one another, didn't take notice of her presence from afar. Their advancing footfalls prompted her to bat an eye in their direction; she had immediately recognized Karin, but the blond-haired boy walking alongside with her was unfamiliar. This time she turned her head, staring intently at him under narrowed eyes with a hint of wariness.

When they had come a mere three yards from her spot, she decided to call out upon their lack of awareness.

"Oi, Karin, who's the new kid?"

Startled, Naruto nearly jumped at the presence of another voice that didn't belong to Karin; he had been under the impression that they were alone. Karin, however, was only slightly surprised.

"Oh, hey th—"

The nameless girl gave Karin no time to finish. "Is he your secret boyfriend or something?"

Naruto and Karin blushed a furious red at the prospect, but were quick to deny it. Maybe a little too quickly."N-no! We're cousins!" they simultaneously bellowed.

She raised a brow in minor interest. "Cousins, huh?" The girl gave them both an analytical eye before scoffing. "Had me fooled. You two look nothing alike."

"But still..." Karin meekly replied, though it appeared to fall on deaf ears.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Karin." A mad glint flashed in her eyes as she suppressed a bout of wild laughter. Instead, she settled with a grin.

Karin's face flustered at the tease, from both embarrassment and irritation. "H-hey! Quit it already! I was serious about that!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that," she responded nonchalantly. "Anyway, who the hell is he?" The unnamed girl notioned the response with a slight tilt of her head.

Naruto, who had been previously watching the two converse in interest, took his queue to speak while Karin struggled to maintain her posture.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I—"

"Fishfry."

He blinked once, unsure of what he heard. "Uh... what?"

"Yep, that'll work." The girl nodded to herself in self-agreement. Still fazed, Naruto could only gawk at the evasive response.

"She's better with faces than names, so she gave you a nickname instead. It's 'Fishfry' apparently..." Karin answered, having recomposed herself in a more proper manner.

Realization quickly settled in as Naruto's confused demeanor evolved into that of irritation. "Oi! Who are you calling a_ fry_!" he retorted, obviously not content with such a degrading nickname.

The black-clad girl uncrossed her arms and pushed herself off the arch. A disinterested expression took over the features of her face as she approached Naruto, stopping with only a foot in distance between them. She stood still for a moment, her face visibly softening from its natural scowl. Naruto on the other hand, decided to take this opportunity to study her face close-up. _Huh, she's actually pretty... must be the angry look or something._

Unaware to him, the girl slowly held up her right arm, fingers clenched into a well-formed fist. Her gaze swung towards Karin, who watched in wariness at the raised hand.

"Don't..." Karin pleaded.

The unnamed girl merely shrugged before returning her eyes towards Naruto. She quickly reeled her fist back before launching the punch with the intent to cause damage. Naruto however, couldn't quite catch it in time and forcibly shut his eyes for the coming pain.

One, two, three seconds passed, but nothing happened. He didn't hear the blunt impact of fist colliding with face; he didn't feel the concussive force behind the strike that threatened to sway his balance; he didn't taste the familiar iron in his mouth. So he had slowly opened his eyes, somewhat expecting the feinted blow to evolve into the real deal. But instead, his eyes only met her standing form, once again cross-armed and scowling.

"Oh, my mistake... you're just a _shrimp_ after all." A smirk added itself to her facial arsenal as Naruto reddened in embarrassment.

"Why you..." he growled through gritted teeth. The only thing stopping him from making a scene of it was Karin, who had a firm hold on his shoulder. She let loose an exasperated sigh as the girl walked past them, deeper into the academy. However, she had stopped her trek midway and turned to face the two.

"Was nice seeing you around, Karin. And Fishfry, the name's Tayuya, and you better remember it 'cause I'm only telling you once."


	11. Kusagakure X: Rambunctious Clones

**Chapter 10: Rambunctious Clones**

* * *

The nerve of that girl.

It had irked him so, with that awful first impression and vexatious aura. As far as Naruto was concerned, she—Tayuya as per her name—held no redeemable qualities; rotten to the core so far. But quite frankly, Karin seemed to brush off her atrocious demeanor as if it were an everyday occurrence. Actually, it most likely was if she was that used to it. The question he found himself asking was, why put up with it?

After their little rut with the hot-headed Tayuya, Karin had taken the liberty of breaking down and justifying her abrasive behavior to him. How such vulgarity could be justified, he didn't exactly understand. All he really got from it was, 'that's just the way she is', if that made any sense to begin with.

Really, how could someone naturally be crude and callous to others? Sure, he had his fair share of nasty individuals for a first impression, but this Tayuya character broke the scale. _Easily_. Some questions just didn't exactly have answers for the time being.

Naruto didn't stick to being in a foul mood for long—both he and Karin actually found his place of residence within the hour after a bit of wandering around. He had discovered that it was not that far from either the front gate or the village academy, much to his surprise. It was close enough that any normal citizen could probably reach each destination in a short span of fifteen minutes by merely walking, without taking any shortcuts of course. Scaling the rooftops and walls, shinobi could easily make due in a timely matter no matter where they were located.

Mizuki had been slightly worried about his student since the day before when he had left him to his own volitions. When Naruto did finally get back though, he was at first perplexed that his student didn't come alone. Regardless, he was happy that Naruto had indeed taken up his advice and got to know someone in the village. Odd that his first friend in Kusa would be a girl, but it was a start nonetheless. Naruto wasn't actively seeking out potential peers the entire time, but his sensei didn't need to know that.

It came to be an even greater surprise to him when he discovered the two to be not only friends, but cousins as well. Unfortunately, their introductions were cut rather short with Karin not having the luxury of time to stick around. With a hasty good-bye and promise to stop by at a later time, she had left the residence to attend to her own matters, leaving a slightly disappointed Naruto under Mizuki's watch.

After some embarrassing jabs from his sensei, Naruto strolled down the hall and into his room out of boredom. Sliding the door aside revealed a mosty-vacant space not too different than how he originally left it. Only this time, the sheets were neatly done and a new stack of clean clothes were put out for his use.

Naruto plopped down onto the bedding, ignoring the fresh garments pressed against his back as his eyes focused on the lines of the wooden ceiling. For a moment, he allowed his gaze to travel around the room, seeking anything to steal his attention away, until they were firmly set on the cylindrical object in the far, lonesome corner. Funny, how he had missed it the first time, but that was no longer the matter—it was noticed.

He had rolled off the white sheets, sluggishly making his way to retrieve the Scroll of Seals that he had left unattended to during his absence, and sat his rear before it. Naruto scooted backwards with the bulky scroll in both hands before allowing it to rest flat on the floor. With the seal already broken, he guided his hands to unravel it once more.

As the contents rolled out, Naruto's facial expression went from neutral to glum almost immediately. _Oh great... I almost forgot why I called this the Scroll of Bunshins instead..._

A disappointed sigh departed from his lips as he lay flat on his back, abandoning the scroll in favor of staring at the ceiling.

"Not going to indulge yourself with your gift?"

Slightly startled by the anonymous question, Naruto sat back up, head turning towards the direction of where the voice came from. Perched at the doorway stood Orochimaru, sans the blackened shroud Naruto recalled seeing; a simple white robe took the cloak's place instead.

"Oh, Orochimaru-sama! Uh... well, I would, but most of the techniques in it are based on something I already suck at doing," Naruto answered, voice laced in mild disappointment.

The serpentine sage had frowned at the response. "You're not even going to try? Not every technique is the same; similar, yes, but unique nonetheless."

"Yeah, but—"

"You won't know for sure until you give those techniques a chance, Naruto-kun. Most shinobi would kill hundreds just to learn the techniques locked away in that scroll."

Naruto stood silently as he mulled over his thoughts. It didn't take long for him to realize that he was allowing a previous experience to greatly discourage himself from learning. He wanted to speak, but the words meant to be spoken had died in his throat every time he tried. Oddly, Naruto was finding it difficult to ask, let alone piece together a seemingly simple question.

Orochimaru raised a brow at the boy's troubled and indecisive expression. "I take it that you don't wish to learn from the scroll?" The answer came with a hasty shake of a head for no from Naruto. "Good... so what's bothering you? If it's help that you're trying to ask for, then ask."

It seemed to do the trick. As he finished speaking, Naruto slowly followed with words of his own, though he still struggled to force the question out.

"I... it's just... if it wouldn't trouble you, I mean... could you guide me through... so that I may learn these techniques?"

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? But yes, of course." Orochimaru invited himself inside, making his way to the scroll. Naruto in the meanwhile scooted slightly to the side to allow room for the sage to peer over the scroll's contents.

"Let's see here... **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**? Let's start with that." The boy frowned at the mention of the technique, no doubt replaying memories of failing the basic Bunshin countless times.

"As you've probably read about it, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is a B-rank technique that is borderline kinjutsu. Why borderline, you might ask? The reason is simple. Should a shinobi or kunoichi perform the technique with inadequate chakra reserves, the technique will backfire with severe repercussions. The most common is chakra exhaustion, but chakra depletion is not too far behind either. Simply put, some who even try to attempt it find themselves at death's door, if they're not already in it, of course."

Naruto quirked a brow at that. "Well if that's the case, shouldn't I try learning a different technique instead?"

Orochimaru shook his head. "It matters not, for every technique in that scroll poses danger in its use. This one in particular, shouldn't be too difficult, however, let alone taxing for someone like you. Easy to learn, but difficult to master."

"Okay then... now let's see..."

* * *

Naruto brought both of his hands to form the cross hand sign, chakra pinging at the same time, as he called out, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!"

Again, just as the five attempts before, his molded chakra had fizzed out of control and there were no tangible clones of himself anywhere. This time, though, a slight sense of fatigue overcame his body as he grumbled at another failure.

"Oh come on, why isn't it working?"

Orochimaru, who was currently handling the scroll, offered his input. "I believe you're missing a few important details as outlined on the scroll, Naruto-kun."

Naruto groaned at that. "I did? Well, is it because I'm not pumping enough chakra into it, or what?"

The man had shook his head at that. "No, I don't think that's the case. But tell me, do you mold any chakra before or after making the hand sign?"

Confused at that, Naruto answered, "uh… after, why?"

"That's why it isn't working. You're proceeding usage of the technique too quickly."

"I am?"

"Yes. You're completely skipping the initial phase and jumping into the dispersive, which results in automatic failure because your chakra will have no physical form to take. You need to start the molding of chakra first and _then_ form the hand sign. As you continue molding chakra after the sign is set, the rest of the chakra put into the technique will be used for the dispersive phase. The more chakra you mold in this period, the more powerful and self-sustaining the clones will be."

With the newly acquired information in mind, Naruto nodded to himself as he braced his being to prepare the technique once more. "Huh… okay, let's try this again."

This time, he began the process of molding his chakra and after some time, joined his hands together to form the respective seal required. Chakra pinging in response, Naruto continued to mold until a he felt the familiar sensation of chakra being evicted from his body. And once again, he called out, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!"

Rather than having his chakra fizz out of control as it did before, the energy took on a physical manifestation. The result: four tangible copies of himself phased into existence—two on each side of him. Quickly looking to his left and right, Naruto began to feel rather giddy at his new accomplishment.

"Aha! It wor—_hey_, what the heck was that for?"

His temporary teacher—having long-abandoned the Scroll of Seals—had rapidly dispelled the clones in quick succession upon their momentary inception, much to Naruto's chagrin. The boy had rubbed a few spots where the clones had been hit due to phantom sensations.

"The first bunch are _always_ the worst."

"Eh? Why's that?"

Orochimaru waved him off at that. "Ah, that's a story for another time. But for now, do disperse any future kage bunshins you make for a few weeks—_immediately_, I might add."

"Any reason for that?"

"You don't want to know. _But_... if you're so eager to find out, then I won't stop you."

He frowned at that, but didn't push further than he needed to. "Okay then…"

The man suddenly sat up and made his way to the door, almost as if in a rush. "Ah, forgive me for cutting this session short, but I have certain matters to attend to for the time being. I won't be back for a few days, but do practice while I'm away, will you?"

Naruto nodded at that; of course he would. He may as well anyway with the amount of free time on his hands. "Hai, Orochimaru-sama."

Before he disappeared down the hall and out of sight, Orochimaru gave him one last look. "Then allow me to impart some useful advice, Naruto-kun: _don't do what I wouldn't do_."

Alone for the time being, and already having the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu under his belt, Naruto started to feel rather curious about what Orochimaru meant about the reason for needing to dispel his clones quickly. Though the words of the sage pleaded him not to, he ultimately figured that it wouldn't hurt a little to find out the reason. After all, it couldn't be _that_ bad.

And again, Naruto found himself going through the process of molding chakra, forming the sign and waiting for a short moment. In no time at all, the words, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" came from his mouth.

Just like last time, four clones had formed to each of his sides. But boy, it was starting to become rather tiring trying to use the same technique several times in a short amount of time. Wiping a bit of sweat that had formed on his brow, Naruto held a smirk of confidence as he spoke out to command his newest creations.

"Alright, now I want—" Unfortunately, he didn't get to finish as, for some reason, the clones began to interact with one another.

"Wha—where am I?"

"Oi, why do you look like _me_!"

"_I'm_ the real Naruto, duh!"

"No, _I'm_ the real one!"

"Nuh-uh, it's obvious that _I'm_ the real one here!"

"The real one is obviously smarter, which is clearly _me_!"

"Oh yeah? I bet you don't know which end of the kunai goes where!"

Sick and tired of the pointless bickering that was obviously going nowhere, Naruto slugged one of the clones nearest to him right in the nose. "Through your _fake_ face, that's where!"

A puff of smoke signaled its demise as the clone count was reduced from four to three, and likewise the levels of idiocy as well.

The remaining three clones, however, slightly jumped in surprise and fear at his assault. "Oi, break for it! Every clo—I mean, every _Naruto_ for itself!"

As fast those words came out, the clones had scattered and ran out of the room like cockroaches, fully intent on not getting hit by one irritated creator. Naruto palmed his face with both hands at this; now he had three rogue copies of himself gallivanting around the village freely, and it was all up to him to dispel them before he wound up in some serious trouble.

Indeed, perhaps it was best to take Orochimaru's advice seriously.

* * *

It had taken all day and well into the night before Naruto gave up his fruitless chase on the evasive clones. Fortunately though, he caught up to one of them after an hour of playing catch-up, but lost the other two in the crevices of Kusa at the same time.

A few times he would see them, but they were as crafty as slippery fish when they were finally aware of who was tailing them. They had even took to the rooftops when ground-level just simply wasn't enough, prompting many of the wandering villagers to look upwards to see the noisy ruckus above. Needless to say, they had found it a rather amusing sight to see identical twins playing tag with each other.

But, he would lose them _every_ time. Naruto made no progress in terms of capturing his last two rogue clones even after the sun had set. He continued his pursuit for a few more hours, but the lack of proper illumination of nightfall just made it all the more difficult to find them. Sure, Kusa itself was not that large of a ninja village, but he was still trying to find two needles in a haystack.

When he had finally returned to the residence, the first thing that Naruto had done was collapse on top of the futon in his room. He was absolutely exhausted in all three aspects of himself; chakra, physically and mentally. Never again would he allow another kage bunshin to exist for more than a few seconds for a _long_ time, or at least until he figured out how to make them more obedient as opposed to rebellious and simple-minded. Never again would he experience another exhausting episode of pacifying sentient, rogue clones.

"Stupid clones… so tired…" Naruto faintly rambled into the sheets, not caring that he was not in an ideal sleeping position. It was just too much of a chore to roll over onto his back and slip into the covers. Instead, he found himself rather comfortable and simply lay there as sleep finally caught up to him.

* * *

"Naru-chan, are you in there? There's breakfast if you want some."

Tsubaki waited patiently for an answer, but there was no reply beyond the sliding door. As far as she was concerned, Mizuki said that the boy was a morning person, and should've been awake by now. Since Naruto didn't show up in early in the morning, she had gone up to his room to check up on him. But, without an answer, Naruto could be one of only two things: sleeping, or not in his room. Sighing, she decided to invite herself in and, lo and behold, Naruto was indeed still asleep.

She smiled as she made her way towards the child, crouching down to lightly rub and pat his back. "Naru-chan, are you hungry?"

Naruto mumbled something very incoherently in his sleep, but made no visible sign of awakening.

Tsubaki, however, continued to press her attempts. "Hey, come on Naru-chan, you aren't going to sleep all day long, are you?"

No response. The child didn't even grace her with a groan to imply that he didn't want to be woken up.

Tsubaki frowned at that, but decided to let it go. Whatever Naruto was doing the night before must've been very exhausting, she figured, as he did come back at a later hour than expected. On the better half of her judgement, she allowed Naruto to rest since it seemed that he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. Quietly, she departed from the room, hoping that the boy would wake up for lunch at the very least.

* * *

Rolling on his back, Naruto woke up to an agonizing headache while his hands instinctively went up to clutch his forehead. He groaned in pain as hundreds of images and thoughts began to quickly process in his mind, making it feel as if his head at any moment was going to explode from the mental pressure.

"Ugh... what the... ouch..."

Forcing his eyes open, a thick blanket of darkness settled over his vision. Ah, it was night time, or rather, it was early morning now that his eyes travelled to the window. The sun had not come over the horizon yet, so the only indication of morning approaching was the purplish hue of the sky—_dawn_.

'_Well, that's just great. So I only got a few hours' worth of sleep or... nah, that's just ridiculous. There's no way I slept in for an _entire_ day_,' he thought to himself as he sat upright, hand cupping his belly in response to hunger. Naruto struggled to fight off his lingering fatigue and drowsiness as he forced himself to crawl out of the room, gradually picking himself up to deal with his daily necessities before everyone else was awake.

Somehow, he could tell that today was going to be a very long one.

* * *

For the umpteenth time that morning, Naruto lazily rubbed his eyes—intent on staying awake—as his prone form slouched in the seat near the kitchen. The headache did not subside completely, but it wasn't as painful prior to washing up. Aside from that, he still couldn't believe that he was tired; perhaps having only a few hours of sleep did that to someone.

Naruto sat there in silence for a while, at least until he gave up on sitting and allowed his head to rest flatly on the table. Not only was he tired, but he was _starving_. If he didn't know any better, he could say that he hadn't eaten anything for days. His stomach roared in anger as his face contorted in obvious displeasure.

"Oh, Naru-chan, you're finally awake?"

Naruto bolted up in surprise, not expecting anyone to be awake. "Who? What? Yeah, I'm awake!"

Tsubaki made her presence known at the table, fully dressed in what seemed to be the standard Kusa shinobi outfit. "We were all worried about you, you know? You didn't wake up all day yesterday."

He went bug-eyed to the news. "What?! I slept for an _entire_ day?!"

Tsubaki nodded, making her way to the cupboards. "It's a shame, too. A cute girl stopped by asking for you, but I had to turn her away because you were still sleeping. She looked so sad when I told her that."

Naruto's cheeks reddened at that, but said nothing. _Karin-chan came over, huh? I hope she isn't too upset, me being asleep and all..._

"Oh, _drats_. I forgot that we needed more food. Hope you don't mind riceballs, I can make plenty of those."

His stomach ground up another wave of pain. "It's okay, _anything_ sounds good right now."

The room went silent for a moment as Tsubaki was busying herself with preparing the food. After some time though, she decided to probe Naruto about the cause of him sleeping like a rock for so long.

"So, what were you doing the day before? You came back pretty late that night."

"The day before...?" He took a somewhat-pensive stance, recollecting his most recent experiences as best he could. "Well... I was practicing using the Kage Bunshin no Justsu, but—"

"Wow, you can already do that?"

"Yeah! It wasn't too hard, heh. But... I sort of messed up on the last one I did. And well..." Naruto sighed in exasperation as he recalled the memory. "It was bad enough that I ended up having to chase the runaway clones all day long."

"Did you get them all?"

"No... I only got one, and the other two escaped..." he grumbled.

By then, Tsubaki finished the food preparations and set down a plate with three riceballs before Naruto. "Ah, that's a bummer. But cheer up, hm?"

"Thanks, Tsubaki! You're the best!" he exclaimed before wolfing down his breakfast. Tsubaki though, could only blink in surprise at his voracity.

"Dang. The food doesn't have legs, Naru-chan."

"Can't help it; haven't eaten in like forever," Naruto spoke in between bites and swallows.

"I suppose. You didn't wake up after all."

The room went silent again, sans the munching on Naruto's part. Tsubaki took her seat next to Naruto in the meanwhile, allowing him to finish up his meal. The silence was finally broken when Naruto swallowed the last bite.

"So, you ready to start at the academy?"

Stomach relieved, Naruto slouched comfortably in his chair. "Huh? I guess so, why?"

"Why? You're starting today, silly."

"Eh?! It's today?!"

"It is, don't you remember?"

Naruto groaned. "Oh man... this _sucks_. I'm still tired from yester—uh, I mean the day before." For sure, he preferred to be well-rested before entering the academy.

She offered him a sympathetic smile at that. "I'm sure you'll do fine. First days aren't too intensive, you know?"

He sighed. "I guess. When do I have to be there?"

"Soon, like in an hour or so. But, I can take you there now if you want."

Naruto slid off his chair as he groggily made his way out. "Sounds good to me. If I stay any longer, I'm just going to fall asleep again."

* * *

When the academy came to view, Naruto finally asked his chaperone a question that bothered him for some time.

"Hey, Tsubaki, is there a reason the academy looks the way it is?"

"What do you mean, Naru-chan?"

He hummed for a bit before responding. "I don't know, it's just that the place looks... _old_, and important I guess. I mean it just stands out, you know what I mean?"

Tsubaki took a moment to understand what the boy was getting at as her eyes scanned the contours of the buildings. "Oh, you're talking about that main structure on the academy grounds. Do you really want to know?" Naruto nodded eagerly, wanting to sate his curiosity, so she continued. "Well, it's a surviving castle from old Kusa's time, which was built before the Shodai Hokage was even around."

"Whoa, so that thing is really a _castle_?" he gaped.

"Yeah, it is. It's just been abandoned for a very long time is all. The village is trying to clean and fix it up so it can finally be put to use again, so maybe you'll be able to go inside one of these days."

Naruto let the information sink in for a moment before firing off more questions. "Does it have a name?"

"Of course," Tsubaki replied simply.

"So..." he drawled, pressing the question once more, "what is it called?"

"Oh, I'm sure your instructor will be able to tell you it later."

"Later? But I want to know _now_," Naruto said as he shot her an odd look.

A playful smile danced on Tsubaki's lips. "Ah, but that's the thing, Naru-chan. What is the fun in me giving you all of the answers? Learning should be fun."

"What? That doesn't make sense! Come on, I _really_ want to know!" he whined.

"Do you now? Well..." Tsubaki looked thoughtful for a second before she reached an epiphany; at this, she clapped both of her hands together in light of her most brilliant idea. "If you ask your girlfriend _very_ nicely and take her on a date, I'm sure she'll tell you all you want to know about it!"

"K-Karin isn't my girlfriend!" Naruto sputtered as his cheeks lit up. "She's my cousin."

"Oh, so is that her name? Well, that certainly must've been good news for you. But still, it would be fun, no?" she teased.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?"

She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Oh, nothing. I was just toying with you, Naru-chan."

Naruto childishly harrumphed at her response, crossing his arms and looking away with a pout. At the same time, he fought to expel the both the prospect of what his chaperone was implying and his reddened face. Tsubaki, who had watched his immature reaction with a hint of amusement, giggled lightly as she rubbed his back in compassion.

"Come on _grumpy-pants_, don't be like that!" she told him with a deep, comical tone, "you know that didn't mean anything." Dropping her droll vocals, Tsubaki continued to speak. "Besides, you can't look like that forever, you know? You got to look presentable in front of your new sensei and peers."

Naruto, unable to resist the urge to laugh at Tsubaki's weird voice when she used it, found his pouting reversed into a small smile. "Heh, I guess you're right. I'll just ask Mizuki-sensei then if I forget later, or something."

"Great, since we're already here and all, it wouldn't do you any good if you stepped into class all moody and stuff. But for now, I have to go finish up the last of the paperwork and registrations elsewhere. Do tell me how things go later on, all right?"

"Hai."

Stopping in front of the academy's doorstep, she kneeled down to Naruto's level and gave him a light hug. "Good luck, Naru-chan, and have fun! Don't fall asleep and pay attention." Tsubaki let him go, but not before giving him a reassuring smile, before flickering away in a puff of grass.

Naruto could only nod dumbly at her words, his eyes continuing to stare where she had once been before. He snapped out of his trance-like state and turned his gaze towards the single barrier barring him from his place of being. The scenario he found himself in invoked the feelings of nostalgia; the tingling nervousness, the burning excitement, and the slight tinge of fear came rushing back at him.

Indeed, it was all familiar for him, just like his first day at the academy in Konoha. In the end though, he got over the anticipation that day and realized that it wasn't as terrifying as he thought it was. As such, today would be no different and for a change, he came early even if he wasn't at his one-hundred percent.

Summing up his courage and with a deep breath, Naruto pushed the doors open.


End file.
